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Blundering police ‘ate court evidence’

Police officers dined on pizzas at a crime scene before realising they had been ordered by a gang of torture suspects and should have been kept as evidence, a court heard.

The Hertfordshire police officers “ate the evidence” after buying the two deep pan pizzas for a reduced price from a Domino’s delivery boy who failed to get an answer at the suspect’s house, the Old Bailey was told.

Prosecutors said the pizzas were ordered by a gang who had lured their drug dealer victim to the house in Baldock, Herts, where Anthony Costello, 42, lived.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was then subjected to horrific abuse before escaping through a window on April 21.

The jury heard the two constables were sent to the house after receiving a tip-off from the kidnap victim that he had been held against his will and tortured.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .