British dickless Tracy used force database 'like Google' to leak information about manhunt for police killer Dale Cregan

A policewoman who used the force database 'like Google' to leak information about the manhunt for police killer Dale Cregan to her sister has been jailed.

PC Katie Murray wept as she was jailed for almost three years after accessing confidential information about the pursuit to trade as 'gossip.'

The 29-year-old even sent her sister, Lindsey, the name and picture of one of the two women police officers shot dead by the one-eyed killer, three hours before they were formally identified at a news conference.

In a WhatsApp message between the pair, Lindsey said: 'Oh my God, I can't believe this s***, you better come here after work and fill me in' only for Murray to reply: 'I don't really know anything. He he'.

The officer, who had been with Greater Manchester Police since 2004, later filmed Cregan as he arrived at Newton Heath Police Station for interview.

In the clip she could be heard repeating 'Oh my God, oh my god,' as the killer was being transferred after handing himself in.

Cregan is currently serving a whole life sentence for the gun and grenade killings of PCs Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, in 2012, and a gangland double murder

Hospital worker Lindsey, said to be a habitual gossiper, was said to have passed on the sensitive material given to her by her sister.

Eight days after the serial killer carried out his second of four murders, she told a friend: ''Talking to Kate last night, I know the full story about Cregan x'

She was said to have provided details of the case and future police tactics concluding: 'keep it to yourself though. They are all targets our Kate said.'

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, the sisters, both of Droylsden, were both convicted misconduct in a public office after a trial.

Katie was jailed for two years nine months and Lindsay was jailed for six months.

Passing sentence Judge Jonathan Foster QC told the women: 'Katie and Lindsay Murray, until this event you had both done well with your lives, both had responsible jobs and many people spoke well of you. But as sisters you have one thing in common. You both failed to recognise or respect the boundaries between right and wrong.

'Katie Murray you have fallen from grace and you have compromised the confidence of the public in the integrity of the police force. You have affected the reputation of the vast majority of serving police offices and made it less likely members of the public with cooperate with them.

'You knew your sister was a habitual gossiper and was likely to pass on information to others outside confidence. You used the police computer as if you were accessing Google.'

The court heard the WPC had once been in a relationship with cannabis dealer Jason Lloyd, 44, and also used the force database to get confidential information to him about police investigations into his criminality over a 20 month period.

But Nick Clarke QC prosecuting said: 'She also misused police systems to gain and provide information to friends and family members without any lawful policing purposes.

'Lindsey has requested Katie to check police systems and provide information to her regarding other individuals and incidents known to her.

'There was no proper policing purpose for such inquiries and no legitimate basis for the dissemination of the information.'

Leaks by Katie included details of the investigations into the murders by Cregan of Mark Short, 28, who was shot dead at The Cotton Tree Pub in Ashton-under-Lyne on May 25 2012 and father David Short, 46, who was killed in a gun and grenade attack at his home on August 10 2012.

When Cregan and another suspect were initially arrested and questioned and bailed on their return from Thailand on June 12 2012, Katie reviewed the arrests and looked at their custody records.

'Examination of call data, text and 'What App' messages between Katie, Lindsey and associates has established that Katie divulged to her sister information regarding the murder investigations including the hunt for Dale Cregan and his associates, their arrest and custody process.

'Lindsey was aware that Jason Lloyd was in contact with the Cregan family..'

Mr Clarke said when the two policewomen were killed on September 18 2012, Katie was not assigned to the investigation team - yet sent a picture of WPC Nicola at 12.53pm three hours ahead of the Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy naming the dead office during a news conference.

The prosecutor said: 'Not only did she constantly monitor the incident logs and activity as shown on the police computers, she was also contacting her sister, then almost immediately afterwards Lloyd.

'Katie Murray calls Mr Lloyd at the time the news is breaking so she can talk to him about developments. Lindsey Murray is clearly very interested in what's going on.

'She even released a picture of one of the murdered officers before that unfortunate officer had been publicly named by police.

'We are sure that you will be aware how sensitively and carefully controlled the release of such information has to be, to ensure that families are first told through appropriate official channels, other than reading about it on Twitter or through some other gossip based system of information leak - which is what was instigated by Katie that day.'

Murray was found out when police seized Lloyd's mobile phone following the Cregan murders and texts on his mobile phone was examined.

'When police raided Katie's home, they found an envelope of letters written to her from Lloyd which she kept in the drawer of her bedside cabinet.

In mitigation Murray's defence counsel Rick Holland said: 'Despite the fact she was a police officer for ten years, nothing can prepare her for the rigours of the custodial regime that awaits her.

'She was profoundly upset when those two officers died as were all the officers. She didn't take the images from the internal computers, the information was obtained and she shared their details from Facebook.

'There was a language used that was contemptuous of Cregan and others. She described the day she was arrested as the worst in her life. She is utterly ruined now.'

James Harrison, representing Lindsay Murray said: 'She was receiving information from police computers out of curiosity. It was a sustained course of misguided curiosity. She says she was like a member of neighbourhood watch.'

Lloyd, from Droyslden was jailed for 15 years after being convicted of misconduct, drugs and firearms offences.

Original report here

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