Jail For Essex Bribery Case Court Clerk

An Essex court clerk has made legal history as he became the first person to be jailed under new bribery legislation.

In exchange for £500, Munir Yakub Patel, 22, used his job as an administration clerk at Redbridge Magistrates' Court,  to avoid putting details of a traffic summons offence on a court database.

Patel was caught on camera by a national newspaper agreeing to take the action for Jayraj Singh, who had been given a speeding ticket. The Sun handed over the evidence to the authorities and Patel, of Green Lane, Dagenham, became the first person to be prosecuted and convicted under the Bribery Act 2010.

He admitted bribery and misconduct in a public office dating from February 23, 2009 to August 2011 in which he advised people how to avoid being summoned over such matters. He was also found with photocopied blank invoices for a garage but denied seven counts of possession of an article for use in fraud. The charges will lie on file.

He was handed a three-year prison term for bribery and ordered to serve six years concurrently for misconduct in a public office.

The much-heralded new legislation came into force on July 1 and it was thought the first prosecution could be a high-profile corporate case.