Newton Watkins, a 43 year-old police corporal assigned to the Marine Police who was arrested and charged for collecting a $20,000 bribe last Friday, has been booked to return to court on Monday July 26 when the case will again be mentioned.

He was released on $100,000 bail with surety when he appeared in the Half Way Tree Criminal Court on Wednesday.

Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle also ordered that the cop surrender his travel documents to the police and report to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) three times weekly.

Police reports are that at about 10:00 am last Friday, Cpl Watkins arrested a woman along East Queen Street in downtown Kingston and charged her with breaches of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act. He took her to the Marine police station, where she was advised to contact a surety to bail her.

Allegations are that when the bailee arrived at the station, Watkins demanded to be paid $250,000 to drop the charges.

However, following negotiations between the cop and the bailee they settled on a sum of $40,000. The matter was reported to the OPR and at about 1:00 pm a sting operation was set up at a petrol station along Water Lane. Cpl Watkins was arrested by his colleagues after he was seen collecting $20,000 from the witness, cops said.

The matter was immediately brought to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who ruled that the policeman be arrested and charged for breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.