Met Police officer admits using dead people’s bank cards for shopping

A Metropolitan Police officer has admitted abusing his position to get hold of dead people’s bank card details.

Muhammed Mustafa Darr, 37, pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct in public office at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday following a corruption probe.

At the time of the offences, between December 2018 and September 2020, Darr was a constable on a response unit but has left the force.

One of the misconduct charges states he “abused his position” between December 19 2018 and August 10 2019 to “acquire credit and/or debit card details of deceased members of the public”.

The details were “then used to acquire or seek to acquire goods or money transfers for himself or others by fraud, and to sell on goods obtained fraudulently,” according to the charge.

Darr also admitted using police computer systems to look up information about himself and others “without any legitimate policing purpose” between June 9 2019 and September 14 2020.

But he pleaded not guilty to a further misconduct in public office charge, which alleges he stole a laptop, as well as a bag and its contents, from a Mercedes belonging to a suspect who had been arrested by Darr’s colleagues for being drunk in charge on June 6 2020.

He further denied a charge of perverting the course of justice, which alleges Darr looked up the progress of a police investigation which had a link to Asif Mushtaq, whom he advised to conceal or destroy evidence connecting him to the probe.

Darr, from Walthamstow, east London, appeared in the dock on Thursday.

Judge Tony Baumgartner granted him conditional bail ahead of a five-day trial at the same court on July 29 next year.

Darr, who was based at the Met’s North Area Basic Command Unit, is expected to appear in court for a pre-trial review hearing on July 1 next year.

He was charged following an investigation carried out by the Met’s directorate of professional standards under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

A file of evidence was then passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised criminal charges.

Reporting by PA.