Cops slam thieving colleague who nicked dead dad's phone and ipad

A shamed cop who stole two phones and an iPad from a tragic dad just minutes after he died of a heart attack has been slammed by his fellow officers.

Outraged colleagues condemned Alan Sneddon over his theft shame after the 46-year-old was called to the home of John Green after the 58-year-old dad passed away following a call to NHS 24.

The callous cop swiped the electrical devices - worth £2,700 - then brazenly told John's sister and her husband there were a lot of expensive items in the house which they should take away.

Sneddon, who had 28 years police service, was spared jail over the crime at Paisley Sheriff Court last week, instead being placed on a Community Payback Order which will see him supervised by social workers and carrying out unpaid work.

His lawyer told the court he was set to lose his job and pension and had already lost the backing of his colleagues. Solicitor Advocate Pamela Rodgers explained: "His actions have completely compromised an entire social support network."

And Police Scotland officers who worked alongside him in Paisley, Renfrewshire, say they are disgusted by his crime.

One said: "Nobody can believe a fellow officer, let alone someone as experienced as him, would think that was a good idea, never mind actually go through with it.

"It takes a lot for a cop to turn on another cop. But what he's done is so callous and heartless he's basically lost the full force. Everyone was sickened by what they'd heard and nobody will talk to him now.

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"He was the most experienced officer in his team, by some 20 years, and he's set the worst example he possibly could to the officers he was supposed to be mentoring.

"As he had been in the job for nearly 30 years, he was involved in training new officers and showing them the ropes. God only knows what he's shown them if this is the kind of stuff he was up to."

Another Paisley cop added: "It's sickening. It's a hard enough job for us at the best of times, without some idiot doing something like this. It just gives us a bad name and makes the public less trusting of you.

"He should be ashamed of himself but he knows what he's done was wrong - that's pretty obvious when the people you've been working with for nearly 30 years won't talk to you any more."

Paisley Sheriff Court heard a paramedic called to the scene spotted Sneddon, of Barmill, Ayrshire, clutching a phone in a brown case in tragic John's bedroom, before stealing it, another handset and the Apple tablet.

John's son, also John, 40, had his dad's passwords and was able to track the devices as they were linked. The search revealed the phone was on and had been at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and the town's police station on the same day.

The following day it was tracked at Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Sneddon had been at both hospitals and the station while on duty. John then reported this to officers and the matter was reported to Professional Standards and investigated.

Officers went to the home Sneddon shared with his wife and kids with a search warrant and he revealed he had John's Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the other items.

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