WIREDGOV

An IPCC investigation into allegations a former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer provided unauthorised disclosure of information to a journalist has found the officer would have had a case to answer for gross misconduct if he was still serving.

The IPCC investigation found evidence to indicate that after his time as a serving MPS officer, the man sent thousands of pages of MPS police documentation to the journalist. The documents included information marked ‘sensitive’, ‘confidential’ and ‘highly confidential’, the majority of which was sent from his work email account to his personal account and then on to the journalist. The former officer was an employee of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) at the time but retained an MPS email account in order to complete an investigation. The documentation, which was sent over a three year period from 2008 to 2011, related to that investigation.

The officer was arrested by the IPCC on 10 January 2012, as the result of information provided by the Metropolitan Police team investigating Operation Elveden, on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Data Protection Act offences were also considered.

A detailed report of the IPCC investigation together with accompanying documentary evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In May 2015 the CPS decided it had sufficient information to make a charging decision. The CPS has now decided it would not be in the public interest to prosecute the former officer for either offence.

IPCC Deputy Chair Sarah Green said:

“While there was no evidence to indicate that the documents disclosed by the former officer resulted in payment of any kind, the evidence did indicate serious breaches of the trust placed in the officer both by the force itself and by the public. His claim that the information was provided to the journalist as part of a future book collaboration appear to be supported by the evidence but he also accepted that he had not requested nor been given authorisation to disclose the documents. He also acknowledged that sending sensitive and confidential documents to the journalist would never have been authorised. As the officer is now retired, no misconduct proceedings can be instigated.”

The IPCC will not be publishing its investigation report because it contains sensitive personal data relating to the subject officer and others.