A POLICE officer faces losing his job after being convicted of stealing a pair of trainers.

PC Ricky Kanda, aged 22, of St Helens Road, Bolton, stole the £70 Nike Air-Max from the Sports Soccer store in Horwich on February 16 this year.

He was sentenced to a 180-hour community punishment order and ordered to pay £500 costs at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

His friend Krishna Patel, who worked as a cashier at the store, was also convicted of theft. Patel, aged 23, of Gordon Street, Leigh, received the same sentence.

They had both denied the offence.

The court heard that Kanda, a police officer based in Longsight for about a year, was off duty when he walked into the store on the Middlebrook retail park.

He picked up a pair of £25 Reebok trainers and the £70 Nike Air-Max. But at the till Patel only scanned in the £25 pair and let his friend walk out without paying for the other shoes. Store security staff stopped Kanda as he walked out of the store and detained him, and Patel until police officers arrived.

Kanda has been suspended from the force on full pay since March pending a disciplinary inquiry.

His defence barrister, Paul Lawton, urged the judge to impose a community punishment order instead of a custodial sentence.

Mr Lawton said: "He will be punished by losing his occupation."

Patel's barrister Sarah Spear said: "My client did not benefit financially from this offence. He has been punished already to some extent because he has lost his job at the store."

Judge Martin Steiger told the two men: "This offence was made more serious by circumstances relating to both of you. In your case, Mr Kanda, it means the end of your career."

Det Insp Peter Jackson, of Astley Bridge CID, said after the court case: "Incidents like this are very rare, but we are very quick to take action when they occur. Police officers are not above the law."

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "The Chief Constable will now be informed about PC Kanda's conviction. A review will then be conducted to see if disciplinary proceedings will follow."