Police pay burglar’s £44,500 mobile phone bill that he ran up while on bail

A police force has admitted paying a burglar’s £44,500 phone bill for a device it gave to him while he was on bail.

North Wales Police gave the phone to the offender from Llangefni, Anglesey, as part of a scheme to reintegrate criminals into the community.

But instead of giving him a pay-as-you-go phone, the force presented him with a contract SIM, allowing him to run up the huge bill.

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The police launched an investigation into the error after it was discovered in 2014 and found that three people may have had access to the phone.

About £250 a day was run up on the phone for six months.

Two people were arrested but no charges were brought, North Wales Police told the Daily Post in a Freedom of Information request.

No disciplinary action has been taken against any policing staff over the mistake, which involved an Orange mobile phone.

The force said it has since reviewed and tightened up its mobile phone policy.

It said it used mobile phones occasionally to keep contact with ‘vulnerable victims of crime and offenders to integrate them back into the community’.

In response to the Freedom on Information request, North Wales Police said of the phone: ‘It was used for a number of months and the bills were paid monthly as part of the overall force-wide invoice.

‘In the case of this particular phone a contract SIM was mistakenly supplied as opposed to a credit limited PAYG SIM card.’