Former Avon and Somerset Police worker gets suspended sentence for illegal database searches

Laura Dean, 33, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of computer misuse after running unauthorised searches on police system Niche. She received a six-month suspended sentence and 140 hours of unpaid work.

Ex-police staff member convicted of 11 counts of computer misuse in Bridgwater

A former member of police staff has been sentenced after using a police computer system to conduct unauthorised searches on multiple individuals, including herself, ca.news.yahoo.com reports.

Laura Dean, formerly based at Bridgwater Police Centre, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of computer misuse at Exeter Magistrates' Court on 12 August. The 33-year-old had resigned from Avon and Somerset Police in 2025.

On Wednesday, Dean was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work.

Det Ch Insp Jo Hayward-Melen, of the Professional Standards Department, said Dean had "deliberately accessed sensitive personal data of people without a lawful policing purpose." The system she used to carry out the searches was Niche, a police records database.

Hayward-Melen added: "While there is no evidence to suggest she used that information, the public will rightly be appalled that any police employee would act in such a way. The fact that this has been dealt with by a criminal investigation should reassure the public how seriously we have viewed this matter and it has culminated in Dean being sentenced for her crimes."

Police confirmed that none of the searches Dean conducted were linked to victims of crime she had contact with in a professional capacity.

A separate misconduct process has been running alongside the criminal investigation and will continue in the wake of Dean's conviction.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)