Police waste £100,000 spying on sick officer
POLICE chiefs wasted up to £100,000 on an undercover operation trying to prove one of their officers was faking illness, it was revealed yesterday.
South Wales police ordered 11 officers from two different forces to spy on PC Mark Pugh, 49, when he took time off for post-traumatic stress disorder after being caught in a football riot.
A round-the-clock surveillance operation was set up, but six years later the force have admitted that the dog-handler officer was genuinely ill at a Police Medical Appeal Board.
Mr Pugh was caught in a hail of bricks and bottles between rioting Cardiff City and Leeds United fans in 2002.
He escaped serious physical injury, but spent time in a psychiatric hospital after becoming “even suicidal” at times.
Undercover officers secretly filmed PC Pugh at rugby matches and doing chores at his home near Merthyr Tydfil in a bid to prove he was not really ill.
After being awarded a full disability pension, he said last night: “I feel I have been treated very badly. I was astounded at the level of surveillance.”
