Bent officer dismissed from force
DETECTIVE SUPPLIED CRIMINAL PAL WITH POLICE INFO
Reporter A CORRUPT officer who passed police information to his drugdealing friend has been dismissed from the force without notice.
Northumbria Police DC Gary Christie used force computers to access restricted police information to pass to his childhood pal Asa Dobbing, a gang ringleader who flooded the North East with millions of pounds worth of cocaine.
Intelligence officer Christie, who had 20 years’ experience as a police officer, was jailed for two years in March at Teesside Crown Court after a trial.
On Tuesday a misconduct hearing ruled that Christie should be dismissed without notice over his gross misconduct. The hearing, at Houghton Police Station, was told that the case was ‘discreditable conduct’ in a public office and that he did not show the honesty and integrity expected of a police officer.
Christie, 42, of Silksworth Lane, Sunderland, had been suspended from Northumbria Police since May 12, 2014. Teesside Court heard that he was a close friend of the drugs kingpin and trawled police records for details on drug runner Jamie Molloy, who had been arrested with a kilo of cocaine in his car.
A jury found him guilty of misconduct in a public office between August 2012 and April 2014 and abetting a person to commit misconduct in a public office during the same dates.
Sentencing him, Judge Howard Crowson said: “You put your friendship over your duty as a police officer.”
Dobbing, 37, had previously been handed a 14-year sentence for drugs offences. He will serve an extra 12 months behind bars for abetting Christie. Along with brother Aidan, Dobbing oversaw a major conspiracy to transport drugs from the Thames Valley and London to Sunderland.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Colling, from the North East Regional Special Operations Unit, said: “This organised crime group... clearly thought that this enabled them to carry out their criminal activities unnoticed. The distribution of the drugs centred in the Sunderland area and the value of the trade runs into millions of pounds. The drugs recovered during this operation were an extremely high purity.”
Asa Dobbing, 37, Ryhope Grange Court, Ryhope, Sunderland was sentenced to 14 years as was Aidan Dobbing, 32, Ravelston Close, Doxford Park, Sunderland. Gang members were also handed lengthy spells behind bars. Iain Potts, 29, of Cavendish Place, Silksworth, Sunderland, was sentenced to eight and a half years.
Simon Loomes, 43, of Dukes Valley, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, was sentenced to 11 years. And Kevin Dudley, 39, of Hadrian Park, Jarrow was sentenced to six years, nine months.
Northumbria Police said they did not wish to comment on the misconduct hearing.