A police officer from Bolton has been jailed for nine months after he was caught holding a second job conducting wedding ceremonies.

Mohammed Patel called in sick and took himself away from duties for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) whenever there was a clash with his secret second career, Manchester Crown Court was told.

Timothy Brennand, prosecuting, said Patel legitimately started working as a casual deputy registrar for Bolton Council in January 2003, after obtaining permission from his police bosses. But, without the knowledge of the force, he later took on the same role for Bury, Trafford, Lancashire and Blackburn councils.

Mr Brennand said: "If there was a clash between his police shifts or his duties as a deputy registrar, the defendant would either tell the police he was ill, say he was at court or say he was performing his duties when, in fact, he was elsewhere."

The prosecutor said in June 2007, Patel told his police employers he was unable to work because of a gastric illness, but on the same two days was paid £25 to be an on-call registrar in Bury. He said Patel was also known to have worked as a registrar when he was on compassionate leave following the death of his father and on a four-month sick leave following an assault in the course of his police duties.

Mr Brennand said the level of "unjust enrichment" gained by Patel over the four years was around £6,000. He added: "The prosecution accepts that a significant number of these acts of misconduct reflect instances where the defendant received very modest payment for simply being on call as a registrar. However, indirect costs to police in terms of overtime payments to cover his work cannot be calculated to any degree of certainty."

Patel, of Honiton Drive, Bolton, pleaded guilty to seven counts of misconduct in a public office in October last year. On the same day, he quit GMP where he had worked for 23 years as a £30,000-a-year police constable.

Five of the charges against him represented 46 occasions between August 2003 and September 2007 when he was paid for work or being on call as a deputy registrar while still on the payroll of GMP, the sentencing was told. The two further charges related to police paperwork found at his home and the misuse of an unmarked police car.

Jailing Patel for nine months for each of the seven charges, to be served concurrently, Mr Justice Holroyde said: "You were taking advantage of your employer to increase your income in a wholly inappropriate way. The holder of a public office such as a police officer must accept there is a public interest in the honest discharge of those duties. In my judgment these offences are so serious that nothing less than a prison sentence is sufficient."