NORTH WALES POLICE DETECTIVE GUILTY OF ILLEGAL ACCESS TO LOGS

Detective Inspector Emma Gardner of North Wales Police has been found guilty of unauthorised access to computer material after a trial at Caernarfon Crown Court. Gardner, who joined the force in 2000, accessed police logs relating to a man who had been a bouncer and three women without authorisation. A jury returned a guilty verdict after hearing evidence that she had passed information to the bouncer, with whom she had become Facebook friends and had a sexual relationship. Prosecutor Andrew Scott told the court that the logs Gardner accessed involved "a relatively minor complaint" and "tittle-tattle" concerning her male friend.

Gardner worked as an officer in Rhyl, Denbighshire when she carried out the unauthorised access. During her trial, she claimed that every access she made was for a policing purpose and denied that she had viewed the logs because of her relationship with the bouncer. In one message to the man, Gardner wrote: "I have my uses." Judge Timothy Petts stated that offences of this nature committed by serving officers are "treated very seriously" and indicated that a custodial sentence is "going to be uppermost in my mind" when determining the appropriate penalty.

Gardner was bailed on 8 July pending a pre-sentence report ahead of her sentencing in early September. She has been suspended from duty during the criminal proceedings. Det Chief Constable Nigel Harrison said North Wales Police acknowledged the jury's decision and confirmed that misconduct proceedings would follow the conviction.