TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (297)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of The Telegraph (from Thursday, December 2; link good at time of posting):

Blundering police 'ate court evidence' after buying pizzas meant for torture suspects

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.

....

The alleged attackers fled the house before the officers arrived - but only after calling their local Domino's Pizza brach to order dinner. On arriving at the scene the officers came across the confused delivery boy, who offered to sell the pizzas for a reduced rate.

Sally Meaking-McLeod, prosecuting, told the court that the officers then “ate the evidence” after failing to realise the pizzas were linked to the house they were meant to be investigating.

The following day another officer found the boxes in the boot of a Vauxhall Astra squad car. The empty boxes were then seized and were produced in court on Wednesday as evidence for the jury, which is claimed placed the gang at the scene.

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