Corrupt cop Jye Symes given 18 months jail for trying to frame Melbourne woman on drug charges

A corrupt former detective who tampered with evidence to falsely convict a Melbourne woman of high-level drug crimes has broken down as he was sentenced to at least 18 months behind bars.

ormer detective senior constable Jye Symes tried to frame a Melbourne woman. Picture: Supplied

A corrupt cop who tampered with evidence to falsely convict a woman of high-level drug crimes has been locked up.

Former detective senior constable Jye Symes of the major drug squad was sentenced to a maximum term of three years imprisonment for attempting to frame Melbourne woman Leyna Thai in a 2021 commercial drug trafficking investigation.

Symes was visibly upset as County Court Judge Michael Cahill denounced his crimes, saying they undermined public confidence in the police force and potentially encourage other officers to ignore the rules of law.

“Corrupt police matters, such as yours was, has significant social consequences. It undermines public confidence,” Judge Cahill said.

“The public is entitled to rely on the integrity of police officers … entitled to expect police officers will not abuse the trust placed in them.”

As a “disgraced police officer”, Symes’ time in prison will likely be spent in solitary confinement to protect him from the wider prison population.

“It is clear you attempted to pervert the course of justice,” Judge Cahill said.

However he was not charged with that offence – which carries a 25 year maximum prison penalty – and was sentenced for a single charge of misconduct in public office.

Jye Symes was sentenced in Melbourne’s County Court on Tuesday. Picture: Penny Stephens

For months, then-detectives Symes stood by the lie that there was strong forensic evidence tying Ms Thai to a commercial drug trafficking racket run out of a safe house in Cairnlea in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne.

He doctored evidence to suggest her DNA was on latex gloves found in a drug preparation area of the home and her handwriting was comparable to that found on envelopes seized during the drug raid.

Ms Thai was charged with commercial drug trafficking offences and was facing down the possibility of 25 years behind bars.

However the ex-detective’s deceptions were exposed by her lawyers and lawyers for the public prosecution, triggering a high-level police probe which resulted in raids of Symes’ home.

Analysis of his work laptop uncovered digital manipulations to forensic reports to incriminate Ms Thai and various signature samples for a handwriting expert who no longer worked for the force.

Symes only confessed to his crimes after he was caught.

Knowing he had framed Ms Thai, he acted in “self-preservation” in the later stages of the criminal prosecution by dropping her drug trafficking charges to drug possession charges – but not withdrawing them altogether.

The force withdrew all charges against Ms Thai, who has since launched legal action over the false prosecution.

Symes will be eligible for parole after serving 18 months imprisonment.

The court was never informed of an explanation for his crimes.