A former senior detective with West Midlands Police has been jailed for nine months for making money by ordering "useless" items for Afghanistan's fledgling police force.
Former Detective Chief Inspector Graham Bennett ran the scam while working as project chief for UK policing in the war-torn country.
Winchester Crown Court heard the 49-year-old, from Stourbridge, had placed orders for "useless and unnecessary" kit with a company he had invented with an accomplice, David Smith, (41), from Birmingham.
The pair were caught when officials spotted the name on the firm's invoices, GSBGB, was the same as the initials of Bennett and his wife Sandra.
Their orders included forensic fridges to store bodies which were so useless they were used for keeping milk and 100 pairs of size 11 boots for a force whose average shoe size is seven.
They also requested digital cameras for crime scenes when the back-up gear was missing and scenes of crime kits the Afghan police could not use.
Had detectives not spotted the scam, Bennett would have conned the Government organisation he worked for out of tens of thousands of pounds, the court heard.
Bennett had previously enjoyed a 27-year career with West Midlands Police in which he led some of the region's most high-profile murder inquiries.
They included investigations into the killer of trainee tutor Charles Tandy, who was run down as he chased a thief outside his Birmingham college, and the murder of Heartlands Hospital doctor Karenina Longe, who died of sulphuric acid poisoning.
Judge Andrew Barnett told Bennett: "You have a distinguished past. But this was not sophisticated fraud. You should have been helping to put Afghanistan on a proper and honest footing."
Bennett was jailed for nine months for conspiracy to defraud while Smith was given a six-month sentence.
