Met security breach term quashed

A civilian police employee who accessed sensitive information from computers has had her jail sentence quashed.

Sunshes Pike-Williams and another worker were jailed for two months each in July at Southwark Crown Court.

They both admitted carrying out hundreds of unauthorised checks at Stoke Newington Police station, north London, between 2001 and 2002.

The Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that Pike-Williams' case "did not pass the custody threshold".

Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Grigson and Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, sitting in London, imposed a 12-month conditional discharge instead.

'Motivated by curiosity'

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton said the information Pike-Williams accessed related to her associates and friends.

Her case was that her searches were motivated by curiosity, she had not disclosed the information to anyone and had not foreseen or intended harm to the Metropolitan Police as a result of her actions.

The pair, whose boyfriends had convictions for violence and firearms-related offences, accessed police computer databases to carry out checks on people, vehicles and crime reports.

As a result the Met has spent thousands of pounds reviewing internal security.