Channel 4 24 Hours in Police Custody: What happened to Gareth Suffling -the corrupt officer who blackmailed a man he caught with a sex worker

The Channel 4 programme 24 Hours in Police Custody aires the challenges for staff members at the Luton Police Station. However, the show uncovered more than it bargained for when it emerged that a serving police officer had blackmailed a man after photographing him visiting a sex worker.

Gareth Suffling, 36, from Luton, was a detective constable at Bedfordshire Police. He took the pictures, before he then threatened to send the pictures to family members and neighbours unless he paid him a sum of £1,000.

Officers later found the letter on Suffling's computer after the police were made aware of the blackmail attempt. But what happened to Suffling after he was arrested?

Try MEN Premium now for FREE... just click here to give it a go.

Suffling took photos of a man arriving and leaving the place of a sex worker in Luton. He was parked nearby and put the victim's car registration plate through the system to track down where he lived, MyLondon reports.

He then proceeded to leave a note and copies of the photographs at his address. The note read: "You have made an error in judgment. A massive error in judgment. The next step is for you to decide. Do you really want the people closest to you to know about this? You made a bad decision and put your perversions above your family. You WILL pay £1,000 today."

The note also included a drop-off point for the money to be sent to by 1pm that same day. The victim made the police aware he was being blackmailed and the Major Crime Unit was brought in to oversee the investigation.

The victim used his own funds so that the police could catch the suspect. The police investigated to see if the victim was set up and interviewed the sex worker.

They go on to discover that someone had