Police officers who perverted the course of justice avoids jail

A police officer who admitted perverting the course of justice by presenting a forged letter contending he was insured to drive when his policy had lapsed, has avoided prison.

Thirty-two-year-old Luke McCabe whose address was given as Stormont Estate Management – home of the Northern Ireland Assembly – emailed a forged letter to police stating he was insured to drive a Jaguar XF when he wasn’t.

At the outset of the case the court clerk enquired if his address is Stormont Estate in Belfast, which McCabe confirmed it is.

Dungannon Crown Court heard police attended a minor three vehicle road traffic incident in the Strabane area around 5pm on 9 September 2022 in which McCabe was involved.

Checks later revealed his vehicle was not showing as insured on the PSNI database and when contacted McCabe insisted he was covered.

He claimed there had been “an oversight” with the insurance company but that he would produce either a valid insurance policy or a letter confirming the error.

McCabe produced a letter dated 4 October 2022 indicating he was covered “for the full day” in question.

However there was no mention of the specific vehicle, nor the start or end of the policy cover. When contacted by police the insurance company confirmed the policy was only incepted five hours after the accident.

A prosecuting lawyer conceded the matter was at the lower end of the scale in terms of perverting the course of justice and the issues had been discovered very quickly.

No other person was impacted by the offence and McCabe was not at fault in the collision.

The court heard he was not aware his insurance policy had expired as the company involved had not sent him a reminder.

It was only after the accident McCabe learned his policy had lapsed and, “Panicked and became fearful of the consequences.”

He described his job as highly stressful and at the time he was under significant pressures having experienced several highly stressful work-related incidents involving alleged suicides and death, which contributed to poor decision-making.

Judge Fiona Bagnall noted the matter was aggravated by McCabe being a serving police officer and, in that role, “It was his duty to uphold the law to ensure the respect of PSNI in the eyes of society.”

She added, “This case passes the custody threshold because of the nature of the offence, not essentially how it was committed. It’s the very label of the offence and the consequences of any assault on the administration of justice.”

Imposing a sentence two months custody Judge Bagnall however decided this could be suspended for two years.

It remains unclear why the address of Stormont Estate Management was used as police officers and personnel can benefit from using PSNI headquarters by default.

The estate falls under the remit of the Department of Finance who were asked if McCabe is or was a member of staff and if Stormont Estates Management were aware the address was being used in this way.

A spokesperson replied: “The Department of Finance was unaware of the Stormont Estate Management address being used within the noted court case, the individual is not employed by, or connected to, the Department of Finance Stormont Management Unit. The Department has made contact with the NI Courts and Tribunal Service to alert them to this matter.”

Despite this no mention was made of this in court and Stormont Estate Management remains McCabe’s bail address,

Meanwhile the PSNI were asked to clarify his current employment status and a spokesperson confirmed, “This individual remains suspended.”