POLICEMAN TO STAND TRIAL ON DRUG CHARGE

A POLICE officer accused of giving bad heroin to an informer has been
ordered to stand trial.

Sen-Constable Lincoln Grigg is accused of giving a dose of what he
allegedly believed was heroin to Paul Tatnell as a reward for
information.

Sen-Constable Grigg has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr Tatnell told Melbourne Magistrates' Court he and his flatmate were
both violently ill on March 1 last year when they injected the
substance, which has never been identified.

Charges of trafficking heroin against Sen-Constable Grigg were
dropped and have been replaced with one charge of attempting to
possess heroin.

The court heard Mr Tatnell had offered to supply Sen-Constable Grigg
with information leading to the arrest of a heroin dealer in exchange
for half of any heroin seized.

During the three-day preliminary hearing, Mr Tatnell retracted a
statement he gave to police saying he believed Sen-Constable Grigg
had deliberately poisoned him.

Mr Tatnell, a convicted burglar and confessed drug user of 25 years,
ended up in hospital after injecting the white powder he said was
supplied by Sen-Constable Grigg.

Magistrate Rod Crisp ordered Sen-Constable Grigg to stand trial in
the County Court next year.

He was released on bail.