'He had become hopelessly, irredeemably corrupted - he has paid a very, very heavy price'

A now-jailed former GMP detective who supplied cocaine he stole from a station evidence store to criminals had become 'hopelessly, irredeemably corrupted', the force's chief constable has said.

Stephen Watson, head of Greater Manchester Police, has spoken out for the first time after Andrew Talbot was jailed for 19 years earlier this month. Chief constable Watson called the case a 'dreadful, dreadful example of abject corruption' and said he personally sacked Talbot in secret before he went on trial.

Talbot's secret life as a drug dealer began to unravel when he accidentally dropped a bag of cocaine outside his daughter's primary school.

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From Leigh in Wigan, he worked in GMP's serious crime division and stole just under four kilos of cocaine from a property store, worth around £400,000, before then supplying it between February 2018 and January 2020.

Talbot, a cocaine-addicted former army officer, conspired with a convicted drug dealer and used his position as a police officer to give him confidential force information to help him to recover a drug debt worth more than £20,000. He also searched the force's confidential computer systems for known or suspected drug dealers to help him shift the drugs he stole and provide information to a friend who was under investigation for assault.

His crimes only began to unravel, however, when the primary school incident prompted a major investigation by GMP's anti-corruption unit.

During the trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the prosecution was able to prove Talbot supplied the drugs he stole, and that the cocaine was not just for personal use, as he claimed.

The detective, who was sacked by