Detective Inspector Emma Gardner, 46, was convicted after a jury found she had unlawfully accessed police computer systems without a policing purpose.
North Wales Police HQ in Colwyn Bay(Image: Daily Post Wales)
A senior North Wales Police detective has been warned she could face jail after being convicted of illegally accessing police logs relating to a close male friend and three women.
Detective Inspector Emma Gardner, 46, was found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court of unauthorised access to computer material during 2022 after denying the offence.
Judge Timothy Petts told Gardner the offence was treated seriously, warning her that while custody was not the only option, it was “going to be uppermost in my mind” when she is sentenced in September, reports North Wales Live.
The court heard Gardner, who joined North Wales Police in 2000 and had worked in several roles including the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit, accessed police logs involving a close male friend.
Prosecutor Andrew Scott said the detective had accessed logs relating to “a relatively minor complaint” and “tittle-tattle” involving the man, who had previously worked as a bouncer when Gardner was a uniformed officer in Rhyl.
In one message, she’d declared: “I have my uses.”
The officer insisted she hadn’t viewed the logs because of her relationship with him. “I believe every access was for a policing purpose,” DI Gardner declared in evidence.
DI Gardner will be sentenced in early September.
Speaking after yesterday’s verdict, Deputy Chief Constable Nigel Harrison said: “We acknowledge the decision of the jury.
“The officer has been suspended whilst the criminal case was ongoing, and we will now progress with misconduct proceedings following today’s verdict.”
