A thief who nicked cream cakes from GMP’s elite officers will not get their just desserts.

An arrest was made after the fancies were stolen from a fridge at Nexus House , the base of the force’s serious crime officers in Ashton-under-Lyne .

They were swiped despite the centre being the base for Serious Crime Divsion, Economic Crime and Cold Case Unit.

Hopes were high that evidence should would be collated quickly as the bespoke building also houses the Forensic Services team.

In June the M.E.N. reported police had made an arrest but were still making their minds up as to whether the culprit should be put before court or whether a full blown inquiry would be a waste of force resources.

(Image: John Topping/ geograph.org.uk)

But a probe into the Great Knock Off has fallen flat.

A spokesman for GMP said the inquiry had been “closed off as a result of insufficient evidence.”

At the time Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: “I can confirm that Greater Manchester Police arrested a subcontractor who was hired to work at Nexus House on suspicion of theft after a report was made that a number of items of food had been stolen.

“For obvious security reasons, Greater Manchester Police takes any breach of trust between the force and its employees very seriously.

“However, we are now reviewing this incident to decide whether this is a proportionate use of police time and resources.”

Nexus House is also the home of the force’s Operation Challenger - aimed at dismantling and disrupting organised crime gangs, and it’s main intelligence gathering team.

One source said: “On this occasion it would appear its intelligence has not worked.”

The theft is perhaps the most audacious against GMP since a thief posing as a mechanic stole a high powered fully-livered force Sierra Cosworth from a repair garage in Trafford Park in the late 1990s.

It was driven up and down Trafford Road with its blue light flashing before being torched on the Ordsall estate.

On another occasion a 1000 cc force motorbike was stolen from the yard at the now close Park Lane police station in Salford.

Last year a police bicycle was stolen from a Salford street two minutes after an officer apparently neglected to chain it up.

The white mountain bike - which had “POLICE” written along the frame - was taken from Hillside Drive in Pendlebury.

In the 90s the boys in blue in Salford were given the runaround after thieves stole a police radio from an unlocked patrol car and sent out false crime reports for a weekend.