A former Hackney and Tower Hamlets police constable has avoided jail for concealing money she knew had been illegally obtained by her corrupt officer husband.

Shareen Kashif, 30, hid a box full of cash that belonged to Kashif Mahmood when police came to arrest him in the middle of the night in April 2020.

Mahmood - also a former Hackney and Tower Hamlets Pc - was a member an organised crime group which intercepted rival drug gang couriers to seize hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The box has never been recovered and police say they will never know how much cash was in it, frustrating their investigation.

Kashif later admitted that she knew what Mahmood had been doing but didn’t report him to police.

She was sentenced on Monday, January 31 to two years’ imprisonment - suspended for 21 months - and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Kashif had pleaded guilty to concealing criminal property at Southwark Crown Court in September.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Taverner, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “When Kashif became an officer she swore an oath that she would behave with integrity.

“She broke that oath when she chose to interfere with our investigation by hiding her husband’s criminally-gained cash."

The court heard Mahmood used police vehicles and resources to take cash from the couriers in carefully planned operations led by a contact who was orchestrating events through an encrypted communications network.

Kashif hiding the box came to light when investigating officers reviewed encrypted messages between the organised crime group.

When questioned following her arrest in July 2020, she admitted that she knew what her husband had been doing but had not reported him to police.

Mahmood was jailed for eight years in May last year after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.

He was sacked from the Met without notice in November 2020.

Other members of the crime gang have also been jailed.

Kashif was sacked on December 2, 2021.

Both former officers, who were based at the Met’s Central East command unit, have been added to the Barred List held by the College of Policing.