A disgraced celebrity police officer who established a "toxic" environment on WhatsApp has been sentenced to four years in prison after requesting an intimate video of a female suspect.
Ex-Cambridgeshire Constabulary police sergeant Paul Street, 41, took part in "salacious gossip" alongside former PC Josh Williams after discovering private images and video content stored on the victim's mobile device.
Addressing the court on Wednesday, the female suspect described an "overwhelming sense of shock, violation, anger and humiliation".
Messages sent by Street also revealed he urged fellow officers to "bully" a teenage suspect held in custody.
Street, who resides in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was convicted of two counts of misconduct in a public office following a trial at the Old Bailey in June.
Prior to this, he pled guilty to two charges regarding the unlawful disclosure of personal data, which concerned confidential material and screenshots passed to his partner in 2020.
During a televised sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey, Street received a four-year custodial sentence.
Williams, 38, likewise from Huntingdon, admitted a charge of misconduct in public office and was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment, gesturing to relatives in the public gallery as he was led to the cells.
Presiding Judge Mark Lucraft KC noted that citizens expect serving officers to perform their duties "fairly", adding: "Anything less does harm to police forces and individual police officers."
He stated further that vast numbers of police staff would be "utterly horrified" by the behaviour and mindsets displayed by the men, describing their conduct as "both appalling and inexplicable".
Street found fame when he featured in television documentaries broadcast on the BBC and Channel 4, and built a reputation for securing "impressive results" through "robust" tactics.
An investigation by anti-corruption detectives commenced in 2021, uncovering two separate WhatsApp chat groups after a newly recruited officer raised concerns.
At the time of the offending, Street was based at Cambourne police station, running a Cambridgeshire Constabulary unit focused primarily on organised crime networks and county lines drug distribution.
Prosecuting barrister Anne Whyte KC outlined during the trial how Street fostered a "toxic culture", which ultimately triggered investigations into 11 of his colleagues.
When a junior colleague expressed discomfort over the chat activity, Street sent a message to the group stating: "Just a shame we have snakes as we are all such good mates."
In April 2020, Street instructed his team to "bully" 17-year-old arrestee Robiul Islam, telling officers to "please hit him" and "smash his head in".
Later that year, in autumn 2020, Williams was instructed to analyze the phone of a female suspect, remarking to Street that she was "quite fit".
Street inquired whether the phone held "any nudes", to which Williams confirmed he had found a recording of the woman carrying out a sexual act.
Williams subsequently forwarded an image extracted from the suspect's device to Street, showing her dressed in underwear.
In 2021, Street sent a WhatsApp message asking if Williams retained the private clip, indicating he wished to present it to "the lads from footy".
Williams answered that he was unlikely to still possess the recording, and no proof was found to indicate the video was ultimately disseminated.
In a victim personal statement read to the court, the woman stated: "The photographs and videos on my phone were deeply private and intimate.
"They were never intended to be viewed or shared by anyone without my consent. Learning that people in positions of authority deliberately accessed and circulated these images has left me feeling exposed, degraded and powerless.
"Something that was entirely personal to me was taken and treated as if it had no value or dignity.
"Members of the public are taught to trust the police and believe that officers will act with integrity and respect for the law.
"In my case these individuals entrusted to safeguard my property and uphold the law abused their position in order to invade my privacy in an extremely personal and humiliating way."
She added: "I feel violated by these individuals who were in a position of power over me at the time. The abuse of that power has and continues to make this experience particularly difficult to come to terms with."
In mitigation, defence advocate Jennifer Dempster KC submitted that Street "enormously regrets his behaviour".
She highlighted that the father-of-two had made substantial efforts in combatting illegal drugs before his 17-year career reached a "crashing end".
Ms Dempster stated: "He recognises he has not only let the public down, he has let the police down and he has let his family down."
Representing Williams, lawyer Robert Morris told the court: "He recognises what he did was deeply inappropriate, driven by misguided and stupid desire to engage in salacious gossip."
A total of 11 further officers faced internal investigations as a consequence of the workplace culture Street created.
Among those officers, two chose to resign, one was sacked for gross misconduct, one was given a final written warning, two were issued written warnings, and five were addressed through minor performance management procedures.
Senior specialist prosecutor Lisa Rose, representing the Crown Prosecution Service, stated: "This case exposed a sustained pattern of unacceptable conduct by a police officer who abused his position of trust.
"Police officers are entrusted with significant powers and are expected to uphold the highest standards at all times.
"Members of the public should have confidence that any personal material obtained during an investigation will be handled lawfully and appropriately.
"The actions of Paul Street and Joshua Williams represented a serious breach of that trust."
