A policeman ran his own private security firm when

A policeman ran his own private security firm when he was supposed to be working as a crime prevention officer, a court heard today.

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Christopher Offer, 47, told senior officers he was on duty when he was in fact wining and dining his pretty company secretary in yards from his station, it was claimed.

He allegedly confided in the secretary he was able to moonlight while he was being paid because Stephen Tyler, an inspector at Notting Hill Police Station, ‘was a tosser who didn’t know how to keep tabs’ on his staff.

Offer added the station ran a system of ‘friendly overtime’ where officers could take time owed to them without recording it, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

The offences came to light when Offer sacked the secretary Nichola Bond – known as ‘TC’ – because he could not have an affair with her, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Miss Zoe Johnson said PC Offer first met Miss Bond in 1997 when he went to her house to give her crime prevention tips.

By early 1998 Miss Bond had left her job with catalogue firm Argos and was working for Simply Secure of which Offer and another policeman, Peter Waine, were directors.

On eleven occasions ‘Offer was using police time to further his own private business interests,’ said Miss Johnson.

In January 1998 Miss Bond and Offer spent so much time together at the trendy bistro she was late picking her two children up from school.

Miss Bond also made trips with Offer to printers, DIY stores and companies running telephone answering services as part of Simply Secure’s business.

‘PC Offer will suggest to you there was some informal system operating at Notting Hill where any over time worked was not shown on duty states [timesheets] and could be taken at any time subsequently without it being recorded,’ said Miss Johnson.

Miss Bond told the court said ‘nobody was really interested’ in Simply Secure’s products, which included a clip which fixes handbags to the bottom of a table to stop it being stolen, dummy CCTV cameras and fake alarm bell boxes.

Miss Bond said that her ‘strange relationship’ with Offer was ‘taking over her life.

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She said she had a boyfriend at the time and Offer’s frequent visits to her home were causing problems.

The court heard her employment with Simply Secure ended when Offer realised Miss Bond would never be his girlfriend.

Three weeks before Christmas 1998, Offer visited Miss Bond’s flat in Ladbroke Grove.

‘He said he wasn’t going to pay me.

There was an argument and I said he was just being like that because there was never going to be a relationhip between us,’ Miss Bond said.

Offer, of Barnsby Crescent, Tolworth, Surrey, denies 11 charges of false accounting between June 22 1998 and 20 October 1998.

The trial continues.

ends