A high-ranking police officer convicted of misusing his force's credit card to buy items for his own use will be sentenced today.

Det Chief Insp Peter Salkeld, 42, was last month found guilty of 11 counts of theft, obtaining property by deception and obtaining a money transfer by deception, which relate to him using his Sussex Police force credit card to buy a number of personal goods over a nine-month period.

During the five-week trial, a jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard how Salkeld, who has been suspended from his senior position in the South East Regional Intelligence Unit, used the card to buy items including a mini fridge and a designer watch between June 2005 and February 2006.

Salkeld also took out a £1,100 grant from the Sussex Police Welfare Fund, which he spent on caravaning equipment, and dishonestly accepted five years' worth of payments from Brighton and Hove City Council, which were supposed to be paying for the care of elderly widow Eileen Savage.

He was cleared, however, of a further five counts of theft and obtaining property by deception, concerning Mrs Savage, 93, and the jury was dismissed after failing to reach a verdict over a further three charges of theft from her.

At the end of the trial, Judge Andrew Macdonald warned Salkeld that it was likely he would go to prison. He said: "A custodial sentence is almost inevitable."

Salkeld, of The Avenue, Shoreham, West Sussex, will be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court at 10.30am.