A police officer who conspired with his brother to frame a colleague by accusing her of taking drugs has been jailed.

Pc Joseph Prasad, 32, attached to Specialist Crime and Operations, was sentenced on Thursday, August 24, at Lewes Crown Court to seven years after he was found guilty of perverting the course of public justice and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice with malicious communication. One count of possession of class A drugs is to lie on file.

His brother, Dominic Prasad, 27, of Branch Road, Hainault, was also found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for three years. Two counts of malicious communication are to lie on file.

The court heard Pc Prasad and a female colleague were arrested on June 7, 2016 in Romford after police had received an anonymous call about a man and woman reportedly dealing drugs at the location.

Both officers were off duty at the time.

On being detained, Pc Prasad picked up his colleague’s handbag on the premise of looking for her warrant card; however - he produced two packets containing white powder which he claimed he had found in the bag.

Forensic analysis showed that only his DNA was on the packets. Both officers were subjected to drugs tests which returned negative results.

Further investigative work revealed that Pc Prasad was in possession of two mobile phones. One of the phones had been used to make the anonymous call to police on June 7. Further analysis showed numbers linked to him had made numerous anonymous calls over a two-month period to police, Crimestoppers and the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) giving false information in an attempt to get his colleague arrested.

During this work it was established that Pc Prasad’s brother had also made calls to police, again providing false information in relation to his brother’s colleague.

Dominic Prasad was also arrested and both were subsequently charged.

Now that court proceedings have concluded, Pc Prasad will be subject an internal misconduct process.

Chief Supt Matthew Gardner, Directorate of Professional Standards, said: “Police Constable Joseph Prasad, together with his brother, embarked on a determined and malicious campaign to frame his colleague in an attempt to sabotage her career.

“Their actions have been thoroughly investigated by the DPS Specialist Investigations Unit and Pc Prasad has quite correctly had to face the consequences in a court of law.”