Police worker leaked info to keep gang out of jail

A police call handler who leaked information to a cocaine gang to try to keep them out of jail has been jailed along with three drug dealers.

Cameron Clifford, who worked for Durham Police, was given a false tip about his criminal associates by suspicious investigators which he then frantically tried to pass on to the gang, Teesside Crown Court heard.

A judge said Clifford wanted to keep in the "good books" of his cocaine suppliers, who made lives "miserable".

Clifford, 28, was jailed for one year and 10 months after admitting misconduct in a public office. Three men from Consett, County Durham, who admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, were each jailed for at least three and a half years.

Clifford, from Chester-le-Street, began working as a call handler for Durham Police in March 2020, answering calls from the public and being "trusted to receive and access" highly confidential and sensitive force information, prosecutor Liam O'Brien said.

In January 2022, a covert investigation was launched amid suspicions he was "passing on confidential information to criminals", the court heard.

An undercover officer posing as a member of the public rang 101 and was put through to Clifford, the court was told.

The woman said she had seen James Chappell and Kieren Smith selling drugs in Consett from a grey Ford Focus, the court heard.

That information "hit particularly close" to home for Clifford, O'Brien said, as the call handler had previously bought drugs from both men, who operated in Stanley and Consett with Brandon Wales.

"Literally immediately" after the call ended, Clifford accessed force records about Chappell and Smith on his computer, the court heard.

Within two minutes, Clifford had moved to an unoccupied side room from where he sent Snapchat messages to the men's drugs hotline saying he needed to speak to them urgently, the court heard, then made several calls which went unanswered.

He also sent multiple messages to his brother asking for a number for Wales, which the prosecutor said was "interesting" as Wales had not been mentioned by the fictitious caller.

When Clifford's brother asked him why, Clifford said "something had come up" at work and he needed to speak to Wales "like right now", the court heard.

He said Wales needed to speak to him "if he wants to stay out of jail".

Clifford also used his phone to take and send photographs of digital intelligence records on his police computer screen, an act "clearly forbidden by police policies and procedures", O'Brien said.

The call handler left work about 10 minutes later and exchanged multiple calls with Wales, who also made a number of calls to his fellow drug dealers, the court heard.

O'Brien said there was no record of what was said but the clear inference was the four men were "panicking" and Cifford was "trying to ensure his associates could 'stay out of jail'".

Later that evening, covert officers saw Clifford leave his home and get picked up by a VW Golf at a pub car park, the court heard.

Police stopped the car and found Clifford, Smith and Wales inside as well as two bags of cocaine worth up to £600, which Clifford said was for his own personal use, and the burner phone used by the gang to run the drugs line, the court heard.

So-called "tick lists" on the phone showed Clifford had at various times amassed debts of up to £1,000, O'Brien said.

The prosecutor said the messages proved Clifford "had a particularly close relationship with his dealers and was in regular contact with them" for about a year.

"On any interpretation, he was a heavy user of cocaine and heavily indebted to his suppliers," O'Brien said.

A video filmed by one of the men on 15 September 2021 showed Clifford telling them they might have a "rat", advising them to not keep drugs at their homes and detailing how much police knew about their activities, the court heard.

Clifford later claimed he had been exaggerating his knowledge to make the gang think he "knew more about the police operation into their dealing than he did", the court was told.

Some of the information he leaked "may have assisted" the gang, although there was "no direct evidence anything he said actually did impede or hinder" any police investigations, O'Brien said.

The phone also showed the men had been selling cocaine to multiple people between January 2021 and 2022, with customers allowed to rack up hundreds of pounds of debts.

Judge Robert Adams said no-one had forced the dealers to sell drugs and neither had they threatened Clifford into giving them information.

He said Clifford chose to "abuse his position" of trust to keep in the "good books" of his cocaine suppliers, and also knew if they were arrested an investigation could lead to him being revealed as a drug user.

Clifford's frantic actions after being given the "false tip" spoke "volumes" about his motivations, the judge said.

Adams said drugs had a "significant impact" on both the addicts, whose lives suffered a "miserable affect", and the wider community, with many crimes committed to pay debts to dealers.

Smith and Wales, both 25, were each jailed for three and a half years while Chappell, 28, was jailed for four years.

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