A detective who was previously cleared of wrongly looking at people's information has now been handed a final written warning.
Detective Constable Trevor Pugh worked in the Dedicated Source Unit at Northumbria Police. His job, which was based in Sunderland, involved trying to recruit informants.
Last year, he went on trial at Hull Crown Court accused of wrongly looking at people's files and details because he was "nosy".
The court in Hull heard how he spent 80% of his time on computers carrying out research on possible informants and his boss expected him to have carried out thorough checks on possible recruits before making a business case for using them.
Hull Live reported how a police sergeant, who looked into his police computer activities, decided some of what he was doing had "no apparent police purpose" and was for his own personal curiosity. She believed that he viewed personal information.
DC Pugh, then 44, denied 14 charges of misusing a police system by securing unauthorised access to computer materials between February 2017 and March 2019. He was cleared of the offences by a jury following a trial in April last year.
He claimed that, because he was born and bred in Sunderland and lived and worked there, he was never really off duty and used knowledge from his time as a police officer in researching whether somebody could be recruited as a covert informant.
The court heard how how the matters had originally came to light as part of a corruption investigation into DC Pugh's dealings with another man. It was decided, after a "comprehensive and thorough investigation", that there was no corruption.
At the time, Judge John Thackray QC said: "There is no evidence whatsoever of corruption."
DC Pugh's defence barrister told the court he was suspended and, irrespective of the verdicts, was likely to face disciplinary action.
Last month, DC Pugh faced a four day disciplinary hearing in which he was accused of breaching the Standards of Professional Behaviour. The first allegation related to Confidentiality and the second allegation related to Orders and Instructions.
In relation to first allegation, he was accused of between February 2017 and March 2019, accessing a number of police records pertaining to Male A, with whom he was personally associated. It was suspected that the transactions were not included as part of his role or with a genuine policing purpose.
In the second allegation, DC Pugh was accused of maintaining an ongoing relationship with a male named Male A, who fit the criteria of Notifiable Inappropriate Association and failing to follow the force policy by not declaring it.
The panel, which included a senior police officer and a member of the public, found allegation one partially proven.
They found that DC Pugh supplied information on one occasion to a police colleague about the alleged domestic abuse history of Male A, without a legitimate policing purpose.
The panel found allegation two to be proven.
They found that DC Pugh maintained an ongoing relationship with Male A and failed to follow force policy by not declaring it.
They decided that the sanction necessary to maintain public confidence in, and the reputation of, the police service, uphold high standards in policing and to deter misconduct and protect the public was a final written warning for a period of 18 months.
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