two years in Britain after conning his UK force out of 26,000.

Chief Supt. Colin McDonald, who rose through the ranks after leaving Bermuda as a Police constable in 1975, was also ordered to pay 26,642 compensation to West Midlands Police.

McDonald, who came to Bermuda on a two-year contract in 1973, pleaded guilty to six counts of theft and one of obtaining property by deception.

Birmingham Crown Court heard he swindled the force during three years of fiddling expenses and stealing cash allowances from Police operation funds.

His trail of corruption lasted from April, 1994 to November last year.

And McDonald's hearing was told he regularly pocketed money after completing cash advance forms using other officers' names without their knowledge.

McDonald, now 51, is understood to have had a clean record of service with Bermuda Police. He was also well-known in Police rugby circles.

A Bermuda Police Service spokesman said: "I am aware that Colin McDonald was a Police officer in Bermuda from 1973.

"He served two years as a P.c. before returning to the UK and I believe he joined the service there.

"There is little I can comment on other than to confirm those details.'' McDonald's court case was even told he claimed 800 for a conference on football hooliganism in Bilbao, Spain, which he did not attend.

The Police inspector who did go claimed just 40 for his trip, according to prosecutor Malcolm Morse.

The court heard McDonald, who had 29 years' service, even claimed cash for operations he was not involved in, including Police missions to crack down on drugs and car crime.

Father-of-one McDonald, now facing the sack, also asked for 69 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Judge Alistair McCreath described him as a "broken man'' who showed "true remorse'' but committed "a gross breach of trust'' made worse by his rank.

John Kane, organiser of the World Rugby Classic said he remembered playing against McDonald in Police-Renegades matches.

The former Renegades man said he was "shocked'' to hear the news about McDonald's conviction.

"I remember Colin as a very good second-row player for the Police,'' he said.

"He also played for Bermuda and did quite a bit of refereeing.

"He was one of the old guard, really. I'm sorry to hear this about him. I don't know what the circumstances were but something must have made him pretty desperate.'' Alex Forbes, former Deputy Commissioner of the Bermuda Police Service, said he remembered playing rugby with McDonald soon after he arrived on the Island.

"I thought he arrived here earlier, possibly going back to 1970,'' he said.

"But I remember him as an excellent rugby player.

"I was a sergeant at the time and although I was never close friends with him, you could say I was extremely surprised to hear about the recent court case.''