A 24 year old serving Greater Manchester Police officer, PC Edward Ballantyne-Rowland, who is posted to the force’s Oldham-based Q Division, has been charged with three counts of theft. They relate to alleged incidents between October and December, 2020.
He has been bailed to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on 18th November, 2021.
A GMP spokesperson said: “The officer remains suspended from duty, pending the outcome of criminal proceedings”.
Brought up and living in Cheshire, PC Ballantyne-Rowland was a talented schoolboy and earned a sports scholarship from the prestigious Repton School.
He is the second Oldham officer to face the courts inside a year. In January, 2021, ex-PC Farooq Ahmed received a suspended jail sentence over child sex abuse offences and was dismissed from the force nine months later (read more here).
A senior detective in the same Division was transferred out to another posting after allegations of making adverse remarks about complainants/victims. Another senior officer, also now working in a different Division, was criticised by a circuit judge over her behaviour in the public gallery during a hearing at Manchester Civil Justice Centre (read more here).
New chief superintendent, Chis Bowen, a recent transferee from West Yorkshire Police, will, hopefully, set the bar higher in terms of ethics and professionalism.
Presumption of innocence does, however, apply in the case of PC Ballantyne-Rowland.
Page last updated at 2105hrs on Saturday 23rd October, 2021
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Photo credit: Greater Manchester Police
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