A DISGRACED police officer has been barred from joining any other force in the country after being convicted of sharing confidential information with her ex-partner after accessing the police database.

Sarah Walker quit her PC role at Cleveland Police after she admitted two data breaches when she appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

The ex-officer chose not to turn up for her misconduct hearing and the Chief Constable ruled that she would have been dismissed for gross misconduct if she was still a serving officer.

The disciplinary hearing was told that Walker accepted that she had broken the law but maintained it didn’t amount to gross misconduct.

In a statement made to police investigators she said she shared the information with her ‘physically and emotionally abusive ex-partner’.

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Chief Constable Mark Webster said: “The officer would have been immediately dismissed from the service. The need to deter other officers from this type of behaviour and the overriding need to maintain public confidence.”

He ruled that each and all of the three charges the ex-officer faced would have breached the force’s confidentiality and discreditable conduct guidelines.

The officer was fined almost £700 by magistrates after she admitted two counts of knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without consent of a controller contrary to the Data Protection Act 2018.

The offences happened in February and September 2020 while she was working at Hartlepool station.

The Northern Echo: Hartlepool police station. Picture: GOOGLEHartlepool police station. Picture: GOOGLE

The officer searched up a workman’s police record and sent a screenshot of it via WhatsApp with the message ‘he is a known thief’.

Details of allegations the former officer faced: On February 21, 2020, PC Walker disclosed confidential, sensitive and/or personal information which she had obtained and shared with a former partner and member of the public.

On September 15, 2020, PC Walker disclosed personal and sensitive information to a former partner, relating to a third party who had previously conducted work at her home address.

On March 8, 2022, PC Walker was convicted for knowingly or recklessly disclosing the aforementioned personal data contrary to section 170(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018, having admitted her guilt to that offence.

The former officer was added to national police barring list following her conviction.

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