Northamptonshire Police officer who had sex at work sentenced for sharing confidential data about child's sudden death

A former Northamptonshire Police officer has been given an eight-week suspended prison sentence for string of offences involving disclosure of personal data held on force computers.

Gareth Cox was alleged to have shared details including information about the sudden death of a child at a misconduct hearing earlier this month.

District Judge Watson told Leicester Magistrates’ Court that Cox had been guilty of a “gross breach of trust and there had been harm to public confidence”.

Cox quit the force last month ahead of a misconduct hearing, which also heard allegations of sexual relations with two women while on duty, fabricating diary entries to mislead bosses over his liaisons and using police premises and a police vehicle to meet.

The hearing, led by Chief Constable Nick Adderley, ruled he would have been sacked had he not already resigned.

Mr Adderley said: “This was not simply poor judgement or a one off chance or occasion but was repeated acts over a considerable period.”

Cox appeared for sentencing on Tuesday (September 20) after an earlier hearing in August when he admitted one charge of causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a programme/data.

He also pleaded guilty to five charges of knowingly/recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without the consent of the controller.

Details of the misconduct hearing that were released by Northamptonshire Police revealed Cox disclosed information regarding the sudden death of a child and a number of confidential reports.

Cox was given a 12-week suspended sentence, which was reduced to eight weeks due to his early guilty plea.

He was also ordered to wear an electronic tag to monitor compliance with a 7pm-7am curfew and carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Speaking after the hearing, DS Sarah Osborne, who led the investigation for the force’s Professional Standards Department, said: “We are pleased with the outcome of today’s hearing which goes to show that any officer or member of staff risks full criminal proceedings – including potential custody - if they are found to have disclosed confidential data deliberately.

“Today’s result should serve as a warning to those that cross the line in this way.”

DS Osborne added: “Northamptonshire Police expects all of its officers and staff to uphold the highest standards of professional behaviour and abide by a code of ethics which is aimed to build trust and confidence with the public whom we serve.

“Where we suspect officers or staff have not lived up to the high standards that the public should expect, they will be investigated in relation to any potential misconduct.

“In order to ensure the public can be confident in policing, we have a barred list, which will prevent officers who are found to have fallen below our standards, whether they have resigned or are dismissed, from taking up a role in policing in the future. This will be the case for Gareth Cox.”