Officer jailed over hacking leak
Senior detective tried to sell information to a London tabloid, a judge rules.
A SENIOR London police officer who leaked details of an investigation into phone hacking to the News of the World was jailed yesterday for 15 months, after a court was told that she had risked compromising the flow of intelligence from MI5 to Scotland Yard.
Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn, former head of the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit, is the first person to be convicted as a result of the £ 40 million ( NZ$ 74m) investigation into hacking and payments to officials.
The judge said he would have jailed Casburn for three years but reduced the sentence because she was in the final stages of adopting a child.
The officer made a ‘‘mad telephone call’’ to the now defunct Sunday tabloid, giving it details of the investigation, the Old Bailey was told.
Detective Chief Superintendent Duncan Ball, head of operations at Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command, wrote an impact statement saying that leaks risked undermining the trust of the intelligence agencies.
‘‘Counter-terrorist policing is highly dependent on the trust and support of the intelligence agencies,’’ he wrote. ‘‘The agencies have a right to expect the very highest standards of integrity.’’
Casburn, 53, was found guilty last month of misconduct in public office. A jury heard that she telephoned the News of the World in September 2010, shortly after the Metropolitan Police ordered a review of evidence in a previous phone hacking investigation.
Patrick Gibbs, QC, said in mitigation that the case was not about hacking but about Casburn being ‘‘very unhappy at work and making a mad telephone call’’. Casburn denied asking for money, and claimed that she contacted the newspaper because she was angry that counter-terrorism resources were being ‘‘wasted’’ on investigating hacking.
She also accused senior officers of seeing the hacking inquiry as a ‘‘ jolly’’ and an opportunity to meet celebrities such as actress Sienna Miller.
Justice Fulford dismissed her claims, describing her actions as ‘‘a straightforward but troubling case of corruption’’ and ‘‘a corrupt attempt to make money out of sensitive and potentially very damaging information’’.
The judge said it was ‘‘credible’’ that Casburn disagreed with the use of counterterrorism resources, and erroneously believed that the investigation had been started as a result of political interference.
But he added that no police officer could take it upon him or herself to vent professional frustrations and disagreements in this way.
Casburn pleaded not guilty to breaching the Official Secrets Act. The prosecution said it was not in the public interest to proceed with the charge.
Tim Wood, the journalist who spoke with Casburn and was the first prosecution witness at her trial, said News International ‘‘broke the first rule of journalism by failing to protect a confidential source’’.