A former police officer entrusted with safeguarding criminal evidence has been sentenced after pleading guilty to stealing approximately £88,000 in cash to pay for her own bills and living costs.

Michelle Reason, 54, was working as an exhibits officer with Derbyshire Constabulary when she stole money that had been seized following criminal investigations.

In her role, Reason was responsible for safeguarding the force’s evidence but ended up abusing her position.

Her offending began in March 2023 when she stole £15,000 while helping to count a large quantity of cash held as evidence.

After spending that money, she continued taking cash from the police safe over a period of three years to pay for household bills and day-to-day living costs.

The money she took included both sterling and foreign currency. She said she was likely to have spent some of the missing euros during a holiday to Spain.

Malcolm McHaffie, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 

“Michelle Reason stole money she was trusted to protect, exploiting her position for her own benefit and risked jeopardising the police’s efforts to catch criminals.

“Safeguarding evidence is essential to the integrity of criminal investigations, and her dishonesty was a serious betrayal of the standards the public rightly expects from its police officers.”

Reason handed herself in and admitted the thefts to officers at St Mary’s Wharf police station, where she was arrested. Police recovered cash and evidence bags, many of them empty. She acknowledged taking the money without permission but said she had always intended to repay it.

Reason pleaded guilty to one count of theft and one count of misconduct in public office at Derby Crown Court on 9 November 2026. She was sentenced at the same court later that day to four years, two months.