Former call handler jailed after admitting sharing police information with OCGs

Catherine Arrol, 29, pleaded had earlier guilty to three offences relating to participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group and four charges of misconduct in public office. She was sentenced on Monday (September 9) at Reading Crown Court.

At the same hearing, her brother John Arrol, 39, of Sunbury-on-Thames, who was “the conduit between Arrol and the OCGs”, was sentenced to two years in prison.

He pleaded guilty at the same court on February 9 this year to three offences relating to participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group.

It follows an investigation by officers from TVP’s Counter Corruption Unit carried out under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), after an internal audit raised concerns of potential unauthorised access to police systems.

It found evidence she was sharing police information with OCGs when she was working from home, where she lived with her parents and brother, during the coronavirus pandemic.

TVP said that between March 29, 2020 and June 4, 2020, while Arrol was employed as a call handler, she accessed information on police systems and shared that information with OCGs who were responsible for importing and distributing class A drugs.

“Arrol, working with her brother John Arrol [who was not employed by TVP], shared this information on an encrypted device with the OCGs using the handle ‘paidlizard’,” the force said. “John Arrol was often the conduit between Catherine Arrol and the OCGs.

“Catherine Arrol also allowed her partner of the time to secretly listen into a telephone call whilst she spoke to a victim of crime.”

During the investigation, an EncroChat phone and Class A and B drugs were seized from Arrol’s room bedroom at her home in Maidenhead. As a result, a TVP misconduct hearing took place where it was determined she would have been dismissed with immediate effect had she not already resigned in October 2020, prior to the hearing.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Joshua Pitts of the Counter Corruption Unit, said: “Catherine Arrol was in a position of trust and she abused that position by accessing and sharing data with organised crime groups. She went further by allowing a member of the public to listen into a confidential chat whereby they were reporting a crime. This was a clear breach of trust that the public places in the police.

“It is essential for the trust of both our communities and our workforce that all members of staff are honest and trustworthy. Catherine Arrol’s behaviour fell far below what is expected, and she has been sentenced accordingly.”

IOPC director Steve Noonan said: “All police officers and staff are in a position of trust where they have access to confidential and sensitive information on police systems.

“They know that any searches of police records must be for legitimate purposes and the information should never be passed on to a third party.

“Catherine Arrol’s behaviour fell well below what is expected of any member of a police force and was a serious breach of the trust placed in the police by the public.

“This investigation ensured that Ms Arrol and her brother were held accountable for their actions and they have both received prison sentences.”