Police squad spread betting court case continues

According to documents filed in court by Paul Page, a former royal protection squad police officer, spread betting, drinking and moonlighting was the culture of the royal police team responsible for protecting the Royal family.

This month, the court case continues and the Crown Prosecution have requested that sensitive parts of the defence statement are disregarded as irrelevant to the case.

Mr Page, 37, faces the internal Met investigation into the multi-million pound spread betting syndicate that was reportedly run from a locker room in Buckingham Palace since 2001, during which police officers made hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The syndicate was referred to as the Currency Club, involved more than 100 police officers from three forces, and made a small fortune spread betting on foreign exchange and commodities markets over a period of six years.

Squabbles broke out as the officers in charge lacked the market knowledge to continue the profitable syndicate and it eventually collapsed last year with losses of more than £1 million.

Mr Page was sacked from the Met and is charged with fraudulent trading following a corruption investigation codenamed Ascerio.