Chief Inspector Joseph Jones, 48, from Swansea, was jailed for 14 months for misusing the South Wales Police pc system
A shamed police chief was jailed for 14 months for misusing his drive’s pc to look confidential particulars for a girl he was having an affair with.
Chief Inspector Joseph Jones, 48, from Swansea, used the South Wales Police pc system to get confidential particulars of a pair who had been tenants of the lady.
A courtroom heard cleaner Kelly Roberts had instructed Chief Inspector Jones that she was in dispute with the couple and needed data on them.
Jones had been concerned in a ‘transient sexual relationship’ with Miss Roberts earlier than committing the database crime.
Newport Crown Courtroom heard Jones appeared up information concerning the couple and their youngsters and illegally handed the data on to her.
However his crime was uncovered when she later grew to become concerned within the provide of Class A medication.
Throughout interviews by the South Wales Police Anti-Corruption Unit, Jones, who was based mostly at Fairwater police station in Cardiff, insisted he solely accessed the database for respectable policing functions.
He denied a cost of securing unauthorised entry to pc materials and in addition charged with mendacity to cowl his tracks.
Jones {accused} these investigating him as being motivated by ‘an underlying unexplained grievance’ towards him.
On the primary day of the trial he claimed to have discovered his ‘daybook’ from 2015 which contained notes proving that he did have a respectable function for accessing the data.
The jury was discharged and a retrial was ordered to permit for forensic exams to be carried out on the pocket book after doubts had been expressed concerning the color of the ink used within the related entries.
Jones was based mostly at Fairwater police station in Cardiff and was convicted after a trial with a second jury (pictured: Fairwater police station)
The daybook was by no means handed over and Jones has refused to clarify what occurred to it.
However he was convicted after a trial with a second jury.
Choose Daniel Williams stated: ‘The very fact that you’re a police officer and a senior police officer is a critically aggravating function.
‘You had waited to declare this miracle discovery till the jury had been sworn, hoping that as a chief inspector your phrase could be accepted and you possibly can depart courtroom together with your good character, job and pension intact.
‘It was an act borne of conceitedness in your half which was an insult to the courtroom and to the justice system which you might have served so a few years.’
Jones was sentenced to 2 months custody for the offence underneath the Laptop Misuse Act 1990. He was sentenced to 14 months for perverting the course of justice.
South Wales Police held a misconduct listening to on December 14, the place it was discovered the allegations towards Jones had been confirmed and that they amounted to gross misconduct.
He was dismissed with out discover and a referral was made to the Faculty of Policing barring him from returning to the occupation.
After the listening to Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan stated: ‘It’s fully unacceptable for cops, who’re chargeable for imposing the regulation, to interrupt the regulation themselves.
‘Law enforcement officials ought to be trusted to the ends of the earth, they maintain a lot authority and entry to non-public data, the general public rightly anticipate our officers to uphold the very best skilled requirements.
‘Misusing private non-public data in such circumstances implies that dismissal is the one final result on this matter.’
