Former Bedfordshire officer jailed for misconduct
A former Bedfordshire police officer has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of wilful misconduct in public office after illegally accessing information on police systems.
A former Bedfordshire police officer has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of wilful misconduct in public office after illegally accessing information on police systems.
Ex-PC Hannah Quinces boyfriend, Christopher Shri, and his friend, Ben Sturge, were also jailed for nine months each after being found guilty of conspiring with her.
Quince, Shri and Sturge were found guilty at St Albans Crown Court last month after the trial heard how the two men had asked the former police officer to search police computers to find out what the force knew about Sturge`s criminal activities.
Quince also received a sentence of one month to run concurrently for a separate offence of possessing cocaine, to which she had pleaded guilty an earlier hearing.
Quince resigned in January 2011 after being suspended from duty. She had been a police officer for six years.
The court was told that Shri was closely associated with individuals suspected of serious criminal offences. Shris lifelong friend Sturge was wanted for questioning at the time about his alleged part in a conspiracy to possess a firearm.
The Crown successfully showed that in the days immediately before Sturges arrest for the firearms offence, Quince had accessed sensitive information from police computers which would have given Sturge a significant advantage in his subsequent police interviews. This information was passed back to Sturge via Shri.
Following sentencing, Bedfordshires Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Richer said: The custodial sentence given reflects the serious nature of the offences Quince, in particular, has been convicted of. The public rightly expects very high standards of honesty from police officers.
Our officers and staff strive to deliver an excellent service to the community and they are genuinely shocked when incidents such as this are uncovered. Although such incidents are rare, it is often the vigilance of other colleagues that starts an investigation into unlawful conduct.
He said the investigation was undertaken by the forces Anti-Corruption Unit. The force constantly monitors use of IT systems to detect suspicious activity and will deal robustly with individuals who choose to access sensitive information without a valid policing purpose.