Jailed: Hackney police officer Graeme ‘Taff’ Williams who stole £11,000 from dead people

The “trusted” police officer who plundered thousands of pounds from the homes of the recently deceased has been jailed for 27 months today.

Sergeant Taff Williams at his office in Stoke Newington Police Station where he develops the peculiar job of contacting relatives of people who die by natural causes or suicide in the borough of Hackney. - Credit: Archant

Graeme "Taff" Williams, 66, of Morpeth Avenue, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire was a sudden death co-ordinator in Hackney, and tasked with cataloguing and looking after cash and property until the rightful heirs could be identified.

But he was found to have stolen more than £11,000 from the estates of three people from 2012 to 2015, along with furniture worth about £5,000 following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court last month.

Williams, who served 26 years within the Met and continued in his role as a volunteer after he retired as a sergeant in Hackney borough in 2013, and had full control over all cash and property recovered.

Det Insp Paul Waller, of specialist crime, said he had committed a "serious breach of trust".

"On behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service I would like to say I am truly sorry to those families affected by this, and thank them for their support throughout this investigation," he added.

The matter will now be considered by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards.