A POLICE employee from Atherton stole nearly £10,000 of drugs from property stores at the stations where he worked.

Phillip Eckersley stopped coming to work and later resigned after his thievery was uncovered in 2012.

He was employed in the stores at Longsight and Elizabeth Slinger Road police stations.

Eckersley, of Bag Lane, eventually admitted to stealing £5,800 of cannabis and £3,900 of pills.

He was jailed for four years and three months after admitting the theft, as well as conspiracy to supply class B and class C drugs.

Police found "large quantities" of various drugs and drug dealing paraphernalia when they raided a house in Railway Street, Atherton, which belonged to Stacy Round, on September 14, 2012.

The drugs were already in police property bags that had been stolen from the stations where Eckersley worked.

Police analysed the drugs and they were forensically linked to Round, aged 26, as well as Scott Owen and Alex O'Malley.

Round admitted conspiracy to supply class B and class C drugs and the possession of a class A drug with intent to supply and has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Owen, aged 24, of New Barn Lane, Leigh, admitted conspiracy to supply class B drugs and was jailed for eight months.

O’Malley, aged 24, of Douglas Park, Atherton, admitted conspiracy to supply class B and class C drugs and was jailed for two years and four months.

During the beginning of the operation, police from the counter corruption unit also discovered that a laptop had been stolen from police stores.

Another former police employee John McCormack, aged 53, of Kimberley Street, Stockport, was found guilty of theft after a trial and given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry our 150 hours unpaid work.

Det Insp Chris Packer, from the counter corruption unit, said: “We have strict processes in place to monitor items stored in our police stations, including illicit drugs and other such contraband.

“Philip Eckersley was very much under suspicion even before we recovered the drugs and the fact we were able to trace them back to the stores where he worked was the final nail in the coffin.

“Both he and John McCormack thought nothing of taking items that did not belong to them.

“The counter corruption unit is set up to identify the very few rotten apples who work as police officers and staff and this latest case should act as a reminder to all employees that not only will we not tolerate rogue employees but will actively root them out and bring them to justice.”