A Metropolitan Police officer is due in court tomorrow after allegedly stealing money from the body of a filmmaker and actor who died after collapsing while cycling in north London.

PC Craig Carter, 51, is due to appear at Wood Green Crown Court for a plea and pre-trial hearing to face a charge of misconduct in public office.

The charge relates to an allegation that he took an unspecified amount of cash from the Italian filmmaker Claudio Gaetani, 45.

He is understood to have suffered a heart attack during morning rush hour while cycling to meet an Italian couple he was staying with in Hornsey, north London, in September 2022.

Gaetani had arrived from Italy the night before to attend a theatre festival in the Southbank.

Last month, Carter appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a brief hearing, but no plea was entered as District Judge Louisa Cieciora said the case was too serious to be heard at a magistrates’ court.

PC Carter, who is based with the Met’s North Area Command Unit, which covers Enfield and Haringey, has been suspended from duty while proceedings continue.

He is on unconditional bail.