Metropolitan detectives jailed for corruption

A detective who brought "dishonour and disgrace" to the police by plotting the kidnap of an underworld financier was jailed for seven years by the Old Bailey yesterday.

Another Metropolitan Police officer was given a 30-month jail term after the two detectives admitted helping two criminals in a plan to torture a man into repaying a £680,000 debt.

The criminals, who had discussed using a crusher to dump the victim's body, were also jailed for seven and four years.

Detective Constable Martin Morgan, 39, a Met officer for 21 years, is believed to have been paid tens of thousands of pounds for helping Robert Kean and Carl Wood to track down a business partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Morgan recruited Detective Constable Declan Costello, 36, and helped to trace the missing financier to a hotel in Surrey.

The 40-year-old victim was to have been beaten up, handcuffed and bundled into a car boot. But the men were caught in a sting operation by a police anti-corruption squad.

Morgan, of South Woodford, north-east London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy falsely to imprison. Kean, 54, of Dereham, Norfolk, and Wood, 45, of Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to the same charge and were jailed for seven and four years respectively. Wood and Costello, 36, of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause actual bodily harm.