A FORMER police officer from East Lancashire who sourced cocaine to take with another ex cop has been jailed.

Adam Jackson was today sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs.

He also pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence believing it would be committed.

Jackson, of Tong Lane, Bacup, was arrested in February 2017 following an undercover investigation, which found him, and a fellow officer to be taking class A drugs including cocaine.

The second officer, Kerry Reeve, of Barratt Gardens, Middleton, was also handed a sentence of 31 weeks after pleading guilty to encouraging the commission of offences believing one or more would be committed.

The duo were found to be meeting up regularly throughout 2015 to 2017, where Jackson, who served at the time in Greater Manchester Police's Tactical Aid Unit, would supply Reeve with cocaine before they would both consume it.

They would regularly take the drug on nights out, in hotel rooms and in other secret locations where they believed no one would be watching.

Unbeknown to the two the GMP's Anti-Corruption Unit were gathering evidence against them.

On February 12 2017 the duo were arrested at Reeve’s home address in Middleton.

The investigation uncovered that Jackson would buy the cocaine from his long-time friend Daniel Wade in Haslingden.

Wade would then source the drugs from dealers John Pounder and Callam Wood.

Wade, Pounder and Wood have also today been sentenced at Manchester Crown Square after pleading guilty to drug-related offences.

Wade, of Laneside Road, Haslingden, was sentenced to two years while Pounder, also from Haslingden, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison.

Wood, of Catlow Hall Street in Oswaldtwistle, was sentenced to three years and five months.

Both Jackson and Reeve resigned from GMP whilst misconduct proceedings against them were on-going.

Under new legislation that came into force in December 2017, they will now be included on the College of Policing Barred and Advisory List which stops them from working in policing and the wider areas of law enforcement in the future.

Chief Superintendent Annette Anderson, Head of GMP’s Professional Standards Branch, said: “As serving police officers, Jackson and Reeve fell way below the standards expected and were complete hypocrites carrying out their duties all the while knowing they themselves were committing criminal offences.

“Their arrogance and dishonesty is utterly unacceptable and I’m thankful neither will be able to work in policing again.

“Jackson implicated his friend Wade by asking him to source drugs for him and as a result we were also able to take three drug dealers off the streets and put them in prison.