Appeal in Telford fake police officer case is rejected
A man who impersonated a police officer in a bizarre stunt in a petrol station in Telford has had an appeal against his conviction rejected by top judges.
Philip Neil Bleasby had found a police warrant card lost by an officer on the Cambridgeshire force.
He used it to trick the man behind the counter of a Shell service station in Donnington, Telford, into letting him watch CCTV pictures of himself filling up his car.
Bleasby, of Spruce Drive, Leegomery, Telford, was arrestedin February last year.
The pump attendant had become suspicious and contacted the real police, London's Criminal Appeal Court heard.
When they searched Bleasby's house, they found an illegal stun gun and a small amount of cocaine.
The 49-year-old was handed an eight-month suspended sentence in December last year at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He was convicted of impersonating a police officer and pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon and a class A drug.
He asked a panel sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, to quash his conviction on the impersonation count. He argued that the Crown Court had no right to try him on that charge as it ought to have been dealt with by magistrates.
But Lady Justice Sharp refused him permission to appeal, ruling that the case had in fact been correctly handled.
