‘Sheriff of Soho’: Sacked Met officer Frank Partridge found guilty of taking bribes

A corrupt Metropolitan Police officer known as “the Sheriff of Soho” has been found guilty of taking bribes from a London’s West End nightclub owners and security bosses.

Former sergeant Frank Partridge, 50, was tasked with policing the area’s nightlife but formed inappropriate relationships with a small group of people involved with running its venues.

Southwark Crown Court heard they wanted him “in their pocket” and Partridge was happy to accept gifts including a £7,000 family holiday to Morocco, a bespoke monogrammed £1,350 suit and tickets for his mother-in-law to see heavy metal band Metallica in Milan for her 60th birthday.

He was treated to hotel stays, free hospitality, and meals and drinks in central London’s high-end bars and restaurants while working with the Westminster licensing unit between 2013 and 2015 – and even accepted the services of a sex worker.

Prosecutors suggested Partridge would pull his punches over alleged breaches of licensing rules, including criminal allegations of sexual assault, or help favoured security firms land lucrative contracts.

Partridge pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and was found guilty of four further counts on Wednesday. He will be sentenced next Tuesday.

The ex-officer, who joined the Metropolitan Police in 1992 and previously worked in the force’s clubs and vice unit, told the jury he accepted gifts from “friends” but insisted: “My work was always impartial.”

He was cleared of one further count of bribery, including allegations he accepted Manchester United tickets and shirts signed by then player Wayne Rooney

Partridge was sacked from the Met following misconduct proceedings in April 2016 for travelling in first-class train carriages, when he was only permitted second-class travel between London and his home in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

He knew the West End well, having lived in a section house behind Marylebone Police Station when he joined the force as a beat officer.

As a single young man, he would socialise in Soho’s bars and clubs, where he first met co-defendant Ryan Bishti, 43, the owner of Cirque le Soir nightclub, which is popular with celebrities.

The court heard Bishti laid on hospitality for Partridge at the club, where he was rumoured to have his own table. Bishti also paid for a hotel stay, and arranged Metallica tickets for Partridge, the trial heard.

He also gave him a £200 VIP Wireless Festival ticket and even organised a “special birthday party” for his son, including a magician.

Footage found on Bishti’s mobile phone shows Partridge with a dancer dressed as a cat, who playfully whips the officer, who was later pictured wearing cat ears and a leash.

Following a night out at wine bars and a casino, Bishti was captured “in his shorts, vest and socks” in CCTV footage at his home in Battersea, southwest London, where Partridge was staying before two sex workers were let into the building, jurors were told.

Undercover police sting

Partridge, who also ran a florist with his wife Maura Contardi, an Italian national, was arrested at Scotland Yard later that morning on 24 June 2015 after spending the night at Bishti’s apartment.

It came after a surveillance operation, including bugs and an undercover officer posing as someone wanting to buy a club for a German investor.

Partridge was watched as he spent an hour being fitted for a suit and shirts at a tailor in Clerkenwell, north London, before drinking with Terry Neil, 56.

Neil was a director of TSS, which provided security to venues in the West End and treated Partridge to meals at high-end restaurants including Nobu, and cocktails at Archers Bar.

He was a guest of the firm at a £3,000-a-ticket end-of-summer party held by Sir Elton John at the singer’s Berkshire home in September 2014 to raise money for his Aids Foundation charity, as well as Global’s Make Some Noise gala dinner.

Signed Wayne Rooney football shirts

Prosecutor Philip Evans KC said Neil wanted to keep Partridge “sweet” and the officer helped his firm get a contract with Mayfair restaurant Sketch by putting pressure on the management.

Beat nightclub boss Eamonn Mulholland, 56, was accused of bribed Partridge with free tickets to see Manchester United, including luxury hospitality, travel and hotel accommodation.

Police found two shirts signed by then player Wayne Rooney that said “Best Wishes Frank” and “Best wishes Alessandro” (his son), as well as a souvenir football in a box for the Manchester derby in a search of his home.

But Mulholland, of Florence Street, Islington, north London was cleared of two charges of bribery as was TSS director Soraya Henderson, 56, of Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Partridge, who now lives in Spain with his wife, said he “couldn’t believe what was happening” when he was arrested and denied his job was impacted by taking bribes.

“I had made myself confident I could accept those gifts because there was nothing in it at all,” he said.

Bishti, of Exhibition Road, South Kensington; Neil, of Kimbers Drive, Slough, Berkshire; and Anna Ginandes, 46, of Fellows Road, Camden, north London; were each found guilty of one count of bribery.

A defendant who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of one count of bribery. They will be sentenced on September 21.

Crown Prosecution Service senior specialist prosecutor Debbie Jeffrey said: “It is clearly wrong and unlawful for a police officer to accept bribes in return for improperly performing his duties, but Frank Partridge did.

“In fact, for a two-year period he maintained corrupt relationships with the co-defendants also found guilty of bribery today.

“In doing so he failed in his duty to reduce crime and ensure public safety.”

‘Motivated by greed’

Commander James Harman, from the Met’s anti-corruption and abuse command, said: “This is a case where an officer with responsibility for licensing in central London has abused his position of trust and power for his own personal gain.”

He said Partridge was “motivated by greed and self-interest”, adding: “That’s corruption and we are determined to route corruption out of the Met.

“Officers are in a position of trust and the vast majority do their duties with bravery, professionalism and determination to do the right thing for the public.

“But a minority, as in this case, will take advantage of their position of responsibility and where they do so they can expect to be dismissed, arrested charged and prosecuted in the courts.”