South Wales Police: Ex-inspector jailed for computer misuse

A former senior police officer has been jailed for 14 months for misusing the police database and lying in court in an attempt to avoid a conviction.

Joseph Jones, who was a South Wales Police chief inspector, used a computer system to find details of a couple who were tenants of his cleaner.

Kelly Roberts was involved in a civil dispute with the couple.

Jones, 48, looked up records about them and their children and passed the information on to her.

Jones had also been involved in a brief sexual relationship with Ms Roberts, of Swansea.

When she later became involved in the supply of Class A drugs, his association with her was discovered, along with his use of the computer system.

During interviews by the South Wales Police Anti-Corruption Unit, Jones, who was based at Fairwater police station in Cardiff, insisted he only accessed the database for legitimate policing purposes.

In November 2021, he was charged with securing unauthorised access to computer material and went on trial at Newport Crown Court in February.

In his defence statement, Mr Jones had accused those investigating him as being motivated by "an underlying unexplained grievance" against him.

On the first day of the trial he claimed to have found his "daybook" from 2015 which contained notes proving that he did have a legitimate purpose for accessing the information.

The jury was discharged and a retrial was ordered to allow for forensic tests to be carried out on the notebook after doubts were expressed about the colour of the ink used in the relevant entries.

The daybook was never handed over and Jones has refused to explain what happened to it.

"You had waited to declare this miracle discovery until the jury had been sworn," said Judge Daniel Williams, "hoping that as a chief inspector your word would be accepted and you could leave court with your good character, job and pension intact.

"It was an act borne of arrogance on your part which was an insult to the court and to the justice system which you have served so many years."

Jones was sentenced to two months' custody for the offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, which he will serve concurrently with the 14-month sentence for perverting the course of justice.

South Wales Police held a misconduct hearing on December 14, where it was found the allegations against Jones were proven and that they amounted to gross misconduct.

He was dismissed without notice and a referral was made to the College of Policing barring him from returning to the profession.

"Police officers should be trusted to the ends of the earth, they hold so much authority and access to personal information, the public rightly expect our officers to uphold the highest professional standards," said chief constable Jeremy Vaughan.

"Misusing personal private information in such circumstances means that dismissal is the only outcome in this matter."