Garda jailed for giving info off Pulse to criminals

Officer was addicted to drugs and put ‘lives at risk’ with her actions

A GARDA has been jailed for 18 months after she admitted passing information to local criminals from the Pulse system while addicted to drugs.

It is the first time in the history of the State that such a prosecution has come before the courts.

Jailing 36-year-old Jimell Henry, of Cairns Hill, Sligo, yesterday Judge Keenan Johnson called on the gardaí to carry out random drug testing on the force’s members, saying those with addiction issues are particularly vulnerable to being blackmailed.

He sentenced the ex-garda to three years in prison with the final 18 months suspended, saying she put ‘lives at risk’ by her actions.

Henry was caught out after a ‘complex multi-disciplinary’ investigation was launched and it was found that she had made 980 queries in a two-week period and 73% of those were about Sligo on the Pulse system.

She was arrested on January 16, 2015, following a surveillance operation which was put in place with the support of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Acting on information about a potential drugs transaction, Henry’s vehicle was observed driving into an underground car park in Ballisodare, Co. Sligo. A black Volkswagen Passat driven by a man nicknamed ‘Pharmacy’ was also driven in. Both he and Henry were arrested.

Gardaí found two phones in Henry’s car, one of which was described as a ‘gouger’ or ‘burner’ phone. The numbers on it were one for ‘Pharmacy’ and another number saved as ‘child’.

Both of those people were senior members of a criminal gang in Sligo, the court previously heard. Superintendent Jim Delaney told an earlier hearing that gardaí in Sligo were concerned in 2015 and 2016 that sensitive Garda information was finding its way to a Sligo criminal gang that was in a feud with another gang.

He said there had been a number of tit-for-tat incidents.

Henry, whose father and grandfather were respected gardaí, had pleaded guilty at an earlier sitting to passing information to the two Sligo criminals. She also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine at Tullynagracken North, Cairns Hill Sligo, on January 16, 2015

The judge said that given the ‘offending occurred over less than a two-month period and while the accused was in the throes of a serious drug addiction and under the influence of an undesirable criminal fraternity, I am satisfied that an element of consecutive sentencing is not appropriate’.

Henry originally pleaded guilty to three charges of disclosing information obtained during the course of her duty as a garda in Co. Dublin knowing that the disclosure of that information was likely to have a harmful effect on dates between December 16, 2014 and January 14, 2015.

She pleaded guilty to four charges of disclosing operational details without proper authority on dates between December 16 2014 and January 15, 2015.

The defendant also pleaded guilty to two charges of forging prescriptions for medication and two charges of giving false information to obtain prescribed medication from chemists in Sligo in a period from February 3, 2016, and April 20, 2016.

Judge Johnson told the court that the accused had lost her job as a ‘consequence of her offending and taking into account the difficulties she will have in obtaining future employment’, he was satisfied to mark all the other charges as taken into consideration.

She was sentenced on one count of disclosing information and all of the remaining charges were taken into consideration.

Judge Johnson noted that Henry had drug issues well before she joined the force. ‘During her career as a garda and obviously the accused continued to abuse drugs and it is the abuse of these drugs together with her fraternisation with criminals that led to her committing the index offences.’

He also called for the gardaí to carry out random drug testing of its active members. And he called on Garda authorities to be extremely vigilant to ensure that members are not abusing drugs or alcohol.

The judge also said the powerful position that gardaí enjoy demands that they ‘observe the highest standards when it comes to their behaviour both on and off duty’.

Several testimonies read out in court, were referred by the judge as mitigating factors. Judge Johnson said: ‘The offences undermine public confidence in the gardaí and mark a serious betrayal of trust by the accused not only to herself but to her colleagues in an Garda Síochána, her family and most importantly the community at large.’

Henry was wearing a smart navy blue dress with white stripes. Her father, a retired detective stood beside her near the dock. She was trembling as the verdict was read out.

‘Under influence of criminals’ ‘Undermine public confidence’