A CORRUPT policeman who provided confidential information to a gangland killer is today facing jail.

Detective Constable John Jones was offered cocaine and prostitutes to help career criminal Allan Foster stay one step ahead of the law.

Jones, 48, repeatedly gained access to a Northumbria Police computer to pass on intelligence about the drug baron.

Weeks before Foster is alleged to have gunned down father- of-seven David “Noddy”

Rice in a seafront car park in South Shields, South Tyneside, in May 2006, the gangster had treated Jones to a swanky night out in London. They visited nightclubs, hired girls and snorted cocaine.

After the murder of Mr Rice, Foster was named as a prime suspect, but Jones failed to pass on vital information about him to the inquiry team, hampering the investigation.

Yesterday, at the end of a nine-week trial, the father-oftwo, from Seaham, County Durham, was convicted by a jury of four counts of misconduct in public office. He had denied the charges.

The court heard Jones developed a contact with Foster in 2003 through bodybuilder Bruce McCall, a friend of the officer who owned a gym frequented by all three men.

Foster was facing a lengthy prison sentence for importing cannabis and wanted to gain credit from the judge by passing on information.

As an official informant, he was given a shorter sentence after he tipped off police about a cache of guns.

Jones passed on the contact to the National Crime Squad, which tried to develop him further as an informant.

That should have been the end of dealings between him and Foster, the court heard, but the policeman continued to associate with him and pass on information.

After Mr Rice’s murder, Foster, 32, fled the country and is thought to be hiding in Spain.

Jones, who is now working as a lecturer in construction at Newcastle College, was found not guilty of accepting cash as payment from Foster.

Bodybuilder McCall, 42, whose gym was in Seaham, County Durham, was convicted of importing, possessing and supplying illegal steroids.

Judge Esmond Faulks adjourned sentence until today and released both men on bail.

Detective Superintendent Ian Daws, head of the Northumbria Police integrity unit, said: “Jones’ police vehicle was bugged for a year and it became clear he was a man with something to hide when he failed to reveal how significantly he and Foster were connected following the South Shields murder.”