Jail term for senior police officer exposed as a 'criminal in uniform'

London: One of Britain's most senior police officers, who tried to counter misconduct allegations by accusing his force of racism, was jailed for four years on Monday after he was finally exposed as "a criminal in uniform".

Commander Ali Dizaei became the highest ranking officer to be convicted of a criminal offence in 33 years. A jury took 10 minutes to convict the 47-year-old Iranian of misconduct and perverting the course of justice after he assaulted and tried to frame a businessman to settle a personal score.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said Dizaei, who was cleared of the same charges in a trial seven years ago, had smeared the reputation of the country's entire police service with his "disgraceful behaviour".

He has previously faced allegations of taking drugs, spying for Iran, fiddling his expenses, abusing his police credit cards and fabricating evidence and his conviction at Southwark Crown Court in London vindicated the force's decision to pursue him.

Dizaei has repeatedly accused the Met of racial prejudice to deflect allegations against him, making numerous counter-claims that resulted in previous Scotland Yard commissioners, including Sir Ian Blair, having to apologise to him. Opponents claimed that his ascent up the ranks to commander came only as the force attempted to overcome its label of being "institutionally racist" in the wake of the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The court heard that Dizaei considered himself untouchable, but Mr Justice Simon said the lengthy jail sentence showed that no police officer, however senior, was "above the law".

"You knew how the system worked and you thought you would never be discovered," said the judge. He said Dizaei, who was once hailed as a role model for ethnic minority officers in his 24-year career, had been guilty of "a grave abuse of public trust".

Nick Hardwick, the head of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said the greatest threat to the reputation of the police service was "criminals in uniform like Dizaei". While his career is over, the legal battle is not. Dizaei, who earned £260,000 (Dh1.5 million) while he was suspended pending the two trials he had faced, is expected to appeal — further increasing the estimated £8 million cost of investigations that reach back a decade — and to pursue another race claim over allegations that his suspension from the force was racist.

He is being supported by the National Black Police Association, of which he is a former president. The Met was seeking to recoup his multi-million-pound pension pot, which he would not automatically lose, despite his conviction.

The jury was not told that Dizaei faced further disciplinary allegations over claims that he colluded with a lawyer to get a friend off a drink-driving charge.