A senior detective has been sentenced to eight months in prison after unlawfully accessing police records and allegedly passing information to a nightclub bouncer with whom she had been romantically involved.
Detective Inspector Emma Gardner, 47, searched confidential police databases 47 times over nine months on behalf of Simon Acton, a man she had slept with twice.
Prosecutor Andrew Scott told the court that the records related to “a relatively minor complaint” and “tittle-tattle” involving a close male friend and three women.
Uniformed officers were handling the complaint when Gardner began reviewing the records between January and September 2022.
Her trial heard that she accessed the confidential police system up to four times a day while communicating with Acton.
Gardner joined North Wales Police in 2000 and went on to serve in several positions, including a role with the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit.
Giving evidence at Caernarfon Crown Court, she said she had previously been praised for her commitment during a police investigation.
Gardner denied misusing the system, telling jurors: “I believe every access was for a policing purpose.”
Emma Gardner joined North Wales Police in 2000 and held a range of roles, including a position in the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit
Gardner, from Colwyn Bay, Wales, has been jailed for eight months
The jury rejected her account and found that she had passed information to Acton.
Sentencing her, Judge Timothy Petts said: “You repeatedly and unlawfully accessed case materials when you had no legitimate policing purpose for doing so.
“The two of you were clearly close, as demonstrated by the thousands of messages exchanged in early 2022, some of which were flirtatious or personal.
“You deliberately failed to disclose your close friendship with him because you feared it could lead to an investigation into your conduct. You knew you were acting improperly.
“You understood that you could not be seen to have any involvement, or you would have faced immediate consequences.
“You knew the rules and consciously breached them on numerous occasions. You have not only let yourself down, but also colleagues across every rank of the force.
“An immediate prison sentence is necessary to make clear that detective inspectors are not above the law.”
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Gardner, who is from Colwyn Bay in North Wales, was jailed for eight months.
She was convicted of causing a computer to perform a function with the intention of securing unauthorised access to a program or data, contrary to the Computer Misuse Act 1990. She also admitted accessing 13 digital records connected to a friend without a policing purpose on 47 occasions between January 20 and September 22, 2022.
A senior officer said: “Emma Gardner has now been sentenced by the court. Her conduct was criminal and fell well below the standards expected of our officers.”
‘She was suspended during the investigation, and following her conviction she was subject to misconduct procedures where the Chief Constable determined had she not resigned, she would have been dismissed and has been placed on the barred list so she can never serve within policing again.
‘She should have known better, and she breached our trust and that of the public.’
Leighton Mawer of the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Emma Gardner abused the trust that was placed in her as a police officer.
‘Police records contain sensitive information and must only be accessed for policing purposes.
‘All police officers are held to high standards, but this officer’s actions fell below those standards.
‘The strong evidence presented by the Crown Prosecution Service resulted in the jury’s guilty verdict.’
Gardner has now been banned from working for any force in England or Wales.
An accelerated misconduct hearing was held by North Wales Police and Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman and found an allegation of gross misconduct proven.
Gardner would have been dismissed without notice from her role if she had not already resigned. Her last day of service was August 10.
Chief Constable Blakeman said Gardner’s conduct was ‘deliberate, repeated and intentional’, and said it ‘plainly damages the reputation of the police service’.
She said Gardner ‘was expected to be a role model for others’, but committed a ‘serious abuse of the trust placed in officers’.
She added: ‘The officer held a senior rank, and occupied a position of trust and responsibility.
‘This was not an isolated error, or a momentary lapse in judgment.’
