James Andrew Hardy was previously found guilty of misfeasance in
a public office for improperly accessing the police database and
was not jailed. He was given a suspended prison sentence of 28
weeks and 300 hours of community service.
The Attorney General appealed that sentence and the prison term
was increased by the Court of Appeal to nine months.
Hardy accessed the police database and passed personal details
on three people to Martin Jolley, a known criminal. Jolley wanted
to take action against the three in retaliation for their actions
against him or a friend.
Hardy must have known, said judges Lord Chief Justice Lord
Phillips, Mr Justice Hedley and Mr Justice Pitchers, that there was
a serious risk that Jolley intended to subject the three people to
physical violence.
The judges ruled that the sentence should include an element of
detrrent in order to make it clear to other police officers that
the improper use of information in the police database was an
offence that would be severely punished.
Hardy and Jolley had both pleaded guilty, and the judges said
that taking that into account Hardy should face an 18-month jail
term. Hardy had already served the equivalent of a 10-week jail
term while awaiting trial as well as a four month curfew. He had
also already completed his 300 hours of community service, so the
Court ordered that he complete a nine month jail term.
Special constable Geraldine Tabor was fined £1,000 in 2005 for
looking up the criminal records of fellow employees at the petrol
station where she worked. Special constables are part-time
volunteers. She said she looked up the details because she
suspected one employee of stealing fuel and the other of stealing
bags of chocolate oranges.
In 2004 a police computer operator was fined £400 under the Data
Protection Act for using the police database to look up four of her
friends because she was bored.
