Allegations of breach of confidentiality, theft and perverting the course of justice - Humberside Police, July 2016

On 4 June 2015, officers from Humberside Police attended the report of a sudden death. While at the address, it was alleged, a police officer inappropriately disclosed sensitive and personal information to a third party.

Officers at the scene removed a number of items from the premises to a nearby police station. These items were exhibited and placed in a police property store. One of the items seized was the man’s wallet, containing £65.

An officer then arranged with the man’s partner to return the wallet by posting it through the letterbox of the property in which she was staying. The wallet, however, was mistakenly posted through the wrong letterbox. This became apparent the following day, whereupon the wallet was recovered and taken to the correct address. The £65 from wallet was not returned at this stage.

On 7 June 2015, the man’s partner registered a complaint regarding the disclosure of sensitive personal information to a third party, the return of the wallet to the wrong address and failure to return the £65. All of these allegations related to one officer.

On 16 July 2015, the officer received notification of the complaint. The £65 was subsequently located in the area where the registration and bagging of the items took place.

Humberside Police Professional Standards Department began an investigation and discovered that, just after being notified of the complaint, the officer left the police station and withdrew £50 cash from his bank account. Shortly after this withdrawal, the £65 was found. The investigation was then referred to us in July 2016 as it reached the mandatory referral criteria of corruption and potential criminal offences.

Our investigators re-interviewed the officers involved in the incident, from attending the scene of the man’s death to the eventual serving of the regulation notice. We also contacted members of the public relevant to the enquiry as witnesses. The officer’s pocket notebook and the exhibit bags were subject of forensic analysis. We interviewed the officer who was the subject of our investigation under criminal caution.

Upon conclusion of the investigation, the Lead Investigator was of the opinion that there was sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal could conclude the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct in relation to three allegations: inappropriate disclosure of sensitive and confidential information, mishandling of property, and the dishonest retention of £65 from the man’s wallet. We concluded our investigation in September 2017.

After reviewing our report, Humberside Police determined in September 2017 that the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct and that the officer should attend a gross misconduct hearing.

In September 2017 we also submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) so they could consider whether the officer had committed theft and had also perverted the course of justice.

In August 2018 the CPS made a decision to charge the officer for both offences.

In June 2019 the officer appeared at court and pleaded guilty to the offence of perverting the course of justice, and in doing so accepted committing the theft. The officer was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison. The same day the officer resigned from Humberside Police, however, a special case hearing heard the allegations relating to the theft and dismissed him, ensuring he was placed on the College of Policing barred list.