A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked after accessing confidential files relating to the disappearance and murder of Sarah Everard.
PC Myles McHugh, former Detective Constable Hannah Rebbeck and Sergeant Mark Harper had no proper policing purpose for looking up the case.
McHugh was dismissed by a gross misconduct panel on Friday.
Rebbeck would have been sacked had she still been serving and Harper was handed a final written warning to last for three years.
PC McHugh accessed the information while off duty and for a significant period of time, while Rebbeck was found to have repeatedly accessed sensitive data without any link to her duties.
Sgt Harper was handed a final written warning,.
Marketing executive Ms Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Met firearms officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.
Inspector Akinwale Ajose-Adeogun, DC Tyrone Ward and DS Robert Butters were cleared as they did have a legitimate reason for accessing the relevant information.
Another serving officer will face separate gross misconduct proceedings on a date to be set and a civilian was previously fired.
Both McHugh’s and Rebbeck’s actions were described by the panel as an “egregious breach of the trust”.
McHugh had looked at information about Ms Everard’s medical history, relationships, employment and lifestyle.
The panel said his behaviour was at the “higher end of harm” as he was dismissed without notice for repeatedly accessing the police system on matters which had nothing to do with his duties.
He looked at personal data which was “very sensitive” and “he attempted to discuss what he had seen with his colleagues”, according to panel chairwoman Sharmistha Michaels.
She said he acted out of a “curiosity” about the investigation as he accessed data “extensively and accumulatively” but stopped looking for the information after Couzens was arrested.
Rebbeck’s “highly blameworthy” conduct included looking at “very sensitive” personal data out of a “morbid curiosity about the disappearance of Sarah Everard”, the panel said.
Ms Michaels said “she did so after it was announced that a Metropolitan Police officer had been arrested” and this “had nothing to do with her police duties”.
Her behaviour was placed at the “highest end of seriousness”.
The panel also noted the misconduct happened at a time of national concern.
There were multiple breaches of standards of professional behaviour, failure to seek guidance from colleagues, and Rebbeck had failed to engage with the misconduct proceedings.
Sgt Harper, who works in a Croydon custody unit, was given a final written warning.
The material he saw related to Couzens and he had accessed it out of professional “curiosity” to see how charging decisions were progressing and not for information on Ms Everard.
The panel took the view the information he looked at contained limited detail and he did not look at more sensitive areas. There was no evidence it impacted the investigation but it had undermined public confidence in the police.
His actions were deemed to be at the lower-to-mid scale of seriousness.
He is still working as a custody sergeant but with certain restrictions, the panel said.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “Today as always, our thoughts remain with Sarah Everard’s family and friends.
“We have apologised to them for the added distress this case has caused and I recognise the wider questions and concerns this raises.
“Our officers and staff are regularly reminded that police systems and specific files must only be accessed where there is a legitimate policing purpose to do so.
“This includes reminder screens and warning pages when logging on to our software systems, as well as mandatory training on information management which must be completed by everyone within the organisation.
“It is clear the panel has carefully considered the circumstances of each individual case before coming to their conclusion that three officers had no acceptable reason for looking at this information.”
