Policeman sold stolen bikes on eBay

A senior policeman is facing jail after selling stolen bikes on eBay.

Inspector David Humphrey used the internet auction site to sell hand-made bicycles worth hundreds of pounds to unsuspecting bidders.

He was found guilty of nine counts of handling stolen goods and two of false accounting after the owner of one of the stolen items recognised his £700 custombuilt cycle being advertised.

Inside Humphrey's Wimbledon home, police found 10 bicycles, ranging in price from £700 to £1,500. Humphrey, who was with the Royal Parks Constabulary for 20 years before his arrest, claimed he bought the bikes for cash and in good faith from Brick Lane market.

But he was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court and is due to be sentenced today.

He was arrested and quit the force before being convicted.

The 6ft 2in officer, who was married to a model, is said to have led a charmed life in the police.

In 1999 he was stabbed by a suspected thief in Regent's Park after spotting the man apparently trying to break into a parked car.

Humphrey chased the man on foot. There was a brief struggle and Insp Humphrey fell to the ground with stab wounds to his abdomen. He was found after radioing for help. Police colleagues later suggested that the circumstances were "mysterious".

Humphrey retired - he had earlier asked for body armour and not been given any - and won a sixfigure compensation settlement.

He returned to the force shortly afterwards, paying back most of the money, but attracted criticism from colleagues because of his flashy lifestyle and ability to emerge unscathed from scrapes.

One officer said: "He got promoted - not sacked - after being caught drink driving, and stayed in the job even after he had to report losing his police radio in Wimbledon while he was supposed to be on duty in St James Park.

"He always landed on his feet. We used to call him 'Gorgeous George' because he wore such flash clothes and thought he looked like George Michael."

Humphrey recently separated from his Texan-born wife, Holly Scott, a former model who appeared in Guinness advertisements in the Nineties. They have a seven-year-old son.