Jail term cut for cop who sold crash data
A“GREEDY” corrupt police officer who sold the personal data of people involved in car crashes for more than £360,000 has had his jail term cut by senior judges.
Former Lancashire police officer Nigel Mungur, of Haigh Road, Waterloo, was locked up for five years at Chester Crown Court on October 6 last year.
The 40-year-old admitted misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, Mr Justice Soole told the Appeal Court in London.
He also admitted conspiracy to convert criminal property and to gain unauthorised access to a computer.
His crimes came to light during a police investigation in 2014 after numerous complaints from people about unauthorised disclosure of their personal information after they had been involved in car accidents.
The former immediate response officer accessed the personal data of people involved in road accidents on 21,802 occasions over a seven-year period, the court heard.
Mungur set up companies and sold information obtained from police accident logs to various claims firms for a total of £363,010.
The firms who were sold the data about crash victims would use it to cold call them and offer to get them compensation.
Mungur’s “simple motive had been greed”, said the judge who jailed him.
But, at the Appeal Court, his lawyers argued that his jail term was far too tough and should be reduced. “This was very serious, prolonged and sophisticated wrongdoing carried out for substantial financial gain by a serving police officer,” said Mr Justice Soole.
But the judge, who was sitting with two others, went on to conclude that the starting point taken when calculating Mungur’s sentence was too high.
Mungur’s jail term was reduced from five years to four years.
Mungur was once a well-respected officer who stood up for a community on a council estate blighted by yobs.
In January 2007, PC Mungur vowed to clean up a street corner in the Digmoor area of Skelmersdale , which had become over run by local youths.
He also delivered Christmas presents to community centres in the area, posing for photographs which appeared in local publicity.
One community leader remembered him as someone who “took his job very seriously” and was shocked to hear he had been jailed.