Two speed camera operators have been jailed after deleting their friends’ speeding data so they wouldn’t have to pay fines.
Samantha Halden-Evans, 36, and Jonathan 47, conspired together when they worked at Staffordshire Police together between May 2019 and October 2020. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said evidence on a mobile phone showed Halden-Evans had deleted data on people who were known to her and Hill.
Hill is also said to have asked her to check number plates to see if the drivers had been caught speeding at specific locations. She was also found to have passed on information about which speed cameras in Staffordshire were active.
The IOPC said Halden-Evans used a police computer to access and disclose information without permission. This included details of a murder probe.
Their conspiracy came crashing down in 2020 when a burglary in Cheshire uncovered the phone showing messages to Halden-Evans. She was arrested in February 2021 and a phone was seized from her.
Halden-Evans, from Cheadle in North Staffordshire, has now been jailed for four years at Stafford Crown Court having admitted conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office (MIPO), wilfully neglecting to perform duty/wilfully misconducting herself, and two counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
While Hill, from Newcastle-under-Lyme in North Staffordshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit MIPO at an earlier hearing and received an 18-month jail sentence. He was dismissed from Staffordshire Police following a disciplinary hearing in December 2021. Halden-Evans resigned in August 2021 before a disciplinary hearing.
Two members of the public, one of whom was in a relationship with Halden-Evans, admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice at hearings in October.
Wayne Riley, 41, also from Cheadle, was sentenced to two years and eight months. While Nikki Baker was sentenced to 10 months behind bars.
IOPC director of operations Steve Noonan said: “The offences committed by these two individuals amounted to very serious corruption. In addition to the deletion of speeding offences, evidence showed that Hill was asking Halden-Evans to check whether people had been caught by cameras speeding on certain roads.
“She was also passing on details about whether speed cameras in Staffordshire were active or not, and there were other data breaches including one relating to a murder investigation. Such behaviour is a betrayal of the public’s trust and undermines confidence in policing.”
Deputy Chief Constable Jon Roy, from Staffordshire Police, said: “The vast majority of our officers and staff conduct themselves professionally and work tirelessly to protect the public.
“We expect the highest levels of honesty and integrity from all of our officers and staff and anyone who falls below these standards will be held to account.”
