Officer jailed for database abuse

A police officer from Stoke-on-Trent has been jailed for passing on information from a confidential police intelligence computer system.

David Wheelton, 42, of Watkin Street, Fenton, was caught by undercover police officers trying to pass on details of criminal records from the database.

Sentencing Wheelton to 10 months in jail, Judge Mark Eades said the officer had "betrayed the force".

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said Wheelton had since resigned.

Stafford Crown Court heard that Wheelton had worked as a motorcycle officer until an accident in 2001.

He then took up a desk job with the force, while also working occasionally at the Harley Davidson motorcycle shop in Stoke-on-Trent.

'Compromised position'

Wheelton was caught looking at the Staffordshire Police Intelligence Network computer to find out information about people he had met at the shop.

He was caught by two undercover detectives posing as bikers who had information about their made-up criminal records passed onto them by Wheelton, who advised them to leave the area for their own good.

Judge Eades said that Wheelton had also compromised his position as a police officer.

Det Ch Con Adrian Lee, of Staffordshire Police, said the force expected all of its officers to display "the highest professional standards at all times".

In a statement released after Wheelton was sentenced, Det Ch Con Lee said: "David Wheelton shamefully cast those standards aside, and is now paying the personal and professional penalties.

"Although cases such as this are extremely rare, we know that it will disappoint many members of the public - as it will all of our officers and staff who work hard for the force and the people of Staffordshire."