A police worker accessed confidential data systems to check up on two of her ex-partners. Helen Millington, 55, worked for Cheshire Police as a communications supervisor at the Northwest Motorway Patrol Group Regional Control Centre, based in Newton-Le-Willows, and joined the force in August, 1991.
The Crown Prosecution Service has revealed she pleaded guilty to using police data systems to check up on ex-partners and their family members. The CPS said Millington, of Westbrook in Warrington, illegally accessed the data systems on numerous occasions between April and August, 2021.
In October 2021, the force's counter corruption unit received information she had been accessing the police national computer to check on the whereabouts of her ex-partner's vehicle.
She also checked on the whereabouts of vehicles used by her ex-partner's family members, as well as details relating to another ex-partner, the CPS said. Investigators were then able to establish a distinct pattern of significant suspected IT system misuse.
In a statement after a court sentencing hearing, the CPS said: "She revealed what she had been doing to a friend who was a policewoman during a walk in the summer of 2021. Her friend reported the misuse immediately. On 29 November 2021, Millington was arrested.
"She initially claimed that she had done the searches because she was worried that her ex-partner was driving when he had been drinking. But the investigation showed that there had been no legitimate reason for the searches."
At Crewe magistrates' court on Thursday, Millington pleaded guilty to a charge of causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a programme and knowingly or recklessly obtain or disclose personal data. She was sentenced to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
Jack Child, of CPS Mersey Cheshire, said: "Helen Millington used her position of trust with Cheshire Police to access information about her ex-partner, his family members and other people for no legitimate reason whatsoever.
"She was aware that this was prohibited yet she carried on doing it. Her offending was frequent and bore a pattern over several months.
"A role with the police brings with it access to all sorts of sensitive information and staff are expected to use this access for only the legitimate reasons it has been given – not to trawl for information about ex-partners. She has now lost her good name and has a criminal record. She has only herself to blame."
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