A retired senior Scotland Yard detective was chased and rugby-tackled to the ground when caught using his old warrant card to dodge a train fare.
Ex-Detective Inspector Brian Tarpey, 58, a counter-terror expert who was in charge of the police response to the London 7/7 bombings, is now a “completely broken man,” the court heard.
Serving Metropolitan Police officers receive free travel within a 70-mile radius of the capital and their professional standards department were making checks at Victoria Station that this benefit wasn’t being abused.
Tarpey, of The Green, Ewell, Surrey pleaded to impersonating a police officer on May 2, with intent to deceive and travelling without paying his £7.40 fare.
A charge of stealing the warrant card was withdrawn.
Today he was conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay £85 costs, a £20 victim surcharge and £7.40 compensation.
Prosecutor Malachy Pakenham told Westminster Magistrates Court: “At 9am the officers were made aware that someone had produced a police Inspector’s warrant card and went over to speak to the individual.
“The railway staff waved to the police and said this defendant had identified himself at the ticket barrier as a police officer and flashed his warrant card.
“When one of the professional standards officers spoke to Mr. Tarpey he admitted he was not a police officer and did not have a ticket.
“The defendant began to run and the police officers gave chase and told him to stop running. He continued to run to the platform exit and the pursuit continued into the street.
“The defendant tried to get something out of his jacket pocket and threw it on the floor, still attached to a blue lanyard.”
The chasing officer said in his statement: “He was fiddling around with something and I was concerned he was reaching for a weapon and took him to the ground and he was arrested and handcuffed.”
The discarded item was Tarpey’s old warrant card, but he insists he dropped it accidentally when tearing a hamstring during the chase.
“He told the officers he retired from the police nine years ago and was taken into custody and booked in,” explained the prosecutor.
Tarpey had jumped on a train at his local station as it was about to depart, claiming he did not have time to buy a ticket.
He told police: “I can’t explain why I didn’t pay for a ticket. I stupidly did what I did to get through the barrier because that’s what we used to do.
“Yes I was dishonest and stupid and I knew I had done something wrong.
“The card was in my hand and I dropped it, I didn’t intend to throw it away, but I tore something in my leg and I was in agony when I discarded it.”
He denied previously using the warrant card for free travel, adding: “No, I wish I never had. Look, I did a stupid thing running off like that.”
Mr. Pakenham told the court: “He runs off and that does not go in his favour and he should have known it should have been handed in.”
Michael Field, defending, said Tarpey was on leave when he retired on May 31, 2010 so there was no final-day handover and the warrant card remained in the bottom of a satchel for years.
“He is truly remorseful and utterly regrets this moment of panic and says it has simply destroyed him.
“He is a completely broken man that came from the heights to this position here.
“This is at the bottom end of offending, presenting a card that he had previously possessed lawfully. He failed to hand it back and used it to obtain free travel to a value of £7.40.
“At the station he did not have the opportunity to buy a ticket and when he arrived at Victoria simply panicked and wondered if he still had possession of the warrant card.
“In a moment of madness and rather stupidly he decided to present it even though he had money for the fare.
“He does accept running off in panic, but not deliberately throwing away the card. He ruptured his hamstring and dropped the card.
“In a very distinguished and impressive thirty year career in the Metropolitan Police he rose to the position of Inspector and has a number of very impressive achievements on his record.
“He was awarded the long service and good conduct medal and worked in anti-corruption, organised crime, child protection, murder and for the last ten years counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard.
“He was the anti-terror duty officer on 7/7, the day in 2005 when London was subject to bombings and directed the initial response to those bombings.
“Since retiring he has been engaged in the security industry and held important and responsible jobs with the Royal Bank of Scotland and financial services company Fidelity International.
“There will be residual damage as a result of the convictions and he is worried he will never work again in the industry.”
District Judge Gary Lucie announced: “My gut feeling is that it is quite serious, but he is a man of good character.”
He told a dejected and shame-faced Tarpey, who kept his head down throughout the hearing: “You knew it was dishonest and you ran off due to panic.
“You are a man of positive good character and you have lost that today. I accept it was out of character and has been described as a moment of madness, an incredibly stupid thing to do.
“You had a distinguished career in the Metropolitan Police, you were an Inspector and received commendation medals. You were a credit to the police.”
Tarpey investigated the polonium poisoning murder of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and claimed his tea had also been poisoned on the Kremlin’s orders during a visit to Moscow.
Tarpey later appeared in the Channel 4 documentary: ‘Hunting the KGB Killers’.
He describes himself on his professional profile as a: ‘senior security professional with a comprehensive portfolio in both the public and private sector.’
He also boasts to be a: ‘highly knowledgeable security professional with a thirty-year police and significant corporate portfolio.’
After working in the financial security sector Tarpey moved onto the Home Office as a senior operation manager regarding security between July, 2018 and July, last year.
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