Former Hertfordshire police officer finds himself in jail for 18 months after repeatedly giving confidential information to contacts involved in criminal activities.
London’s Southwark Crown Court recently discovered that William Stone of West Avenue, Clacton, Essex, age 25, engaged in criminal activity by downloading confidential information from a variety of high-security data systems.
Stone, a former constable based at Hemel Hemstead, pled guilty to all charges, including six counts of obtaining personal data and one of conspiring to do so. Other charges included: securing unauthorized access to programs or data, conspiracy to obtain such access, misconduct in public office, and two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.
Protecting the weak
Stone obtained the information for Ishmail Rahman of Drakes Drive, St. Albans, 26. Rahman confessed to one count of conspiring to obtain personal data, and the court fined him £1,000.
The crimes were committed across several months, when Stone showed up to work early or when he was on sick leave and accessed restricted systems, such as the Police National Computer.
Stone would take notes about various investigations and private details of people of interest to the police, called “nominals.”
Rahman, who had previously been warned for drug possession and had an arrest warrant on the books for a motor offense, was one of Stone’s contacts, apparently a close friend.
Prosecutor Nicholas Paul said that Stone supplied Rahman with information that led Rahman to believe that a police officer carried a “vendetta” against him. Police found details of this in Rahman’s Filofax during a raid of his home.
Although the secure computer systems Stone used to research data displayed stern warnings regarding information sensitivity, the data he gathered was not related to any of his current duties.
During an interview after his arrest in November 2008, Stone stated his reason for joining the police force four years previously: “Because I am protective over my friends and wanted to look after people who can’t fight their own battles.”