AN ESSEX police chief who pretended he'd been the victim of an attempted robbery has been warned he could be jailed when he is sentenced next month.Victor Wallace, chief inspector with Essex Police, pleaded guilty yesterday to attempting to pervert the course of justice between July 30 and August 1 last year.

AN ESSEX police chief who pretended he'd been the victim of an attempted robbery has been warned he could be jailed when he is sentenced next month.

Victor Wallace, chief inspector with Essex Police, pleaded guilty yesterday to attempting to pervert the course of justice between July 30 and August 1 last year.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that Wallace, 40, of Langham Drive, Rayleigh, made a false complaint to Essex Police about being the victim of an attempted robbery and then made a false witness statement.

Wallace's guilty plea to the offence came on the day he was due to stand trial for attempting to pervert the course of justice and an offence of assault by beating.

After his guilty plea to attempting to pervert the course of justice prosecution counsel Charles Kellet asked for the assault by beating charge, which allegedly happened on July 30, to be left on the court file.

When the particulars of the attempting to pervert the course of justice offence were put to Wallace he replied: “Unfortunately guilty”.

Peter Finnigan, for Wallace, asked for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report. He said the week the offence happened had been particularly stressful for his client. “There was certain tensions in his life at that time,” he said.

He explained that Wallace was separated from his partner and there was a small child involved. In addition he had been looking after his mother at the time and had been given new responsibilities at work which were weighing on him.

Adjourning the case for sentence until June 16 or June 27, Judge John Devaux released Wallace on bail and said he would have to co-operate with the probation service in the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

He said that the fact he was releasing Wallace on bail and had asked for a pre-sentence report was no indication as to the likely sentence and all the court sentencing options would remain open. “This is plainly a serious matter that requires a lot of thought,” said the judge.

Last night, an Essex Police spokesman said: “Chief Inspector Victor Wallis remains suspended on full pay until he is sentenced.

“The situation will then be reviewed. He was based at our Chelmsford headquarters just prior to the incident which happened when he was off-duty.”