Ex-policeman has suspended sentence replaced with 12 month jail term by judge
Police who unlawfully access confidential records from force computers for their own purposes were warned by the country's top judge they faced "deterrent" sentences after an ex-constable was imprisoned.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in the Court of Appeal in London, sent out a strongly worded message as he overturned a suspended sentence imposed on a former constable and ordered him to jail.
He and two other judges agreed with the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, that the original non-custodial term given to Mark Turner, 25 was "unduly lenient".
They quashed his 12-month suspended sentence and replaced it with 12 months imprisonment, from which credit would be given for the 137 days he spent in custody on remand.
Turner, who was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in July, accessed records held on West Midlands Police computers and had passed information to criminal friends.
The former officer, who pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office and an unconnected offence of conspiracy to defraud, was not present in court for the decision.
He was ordered to surrender into custody at Kings Heath police station in Birmingham by 1pm on Friday.
Giving the ruling of the court, Lord Judge said police computer records "are never to be used for personal purposes and their misuse for any purpose is always very serious - deterrent sentences are appropriate."
The offences committed by Turner, who joined the police in 2004, constituted a "gross breach of trust" and the original sentence passed failed to reflect the gravity of the criminality.
His offending took place over a period of around 18 months from about April 2006 until his arrest in October 2007.
