Police officer accessed records about Nottingham attacks suspect and forwarded ‘distasteful’ message

PC Matthew Gell faced a gross misconduct hearing on January 19 relating to information he accessed about Valdo Calocane and a message he forwarded about the incident to two people outside of the force.

The hearing was also told more than 150 officers and staff had accessed Calocane’s records around the time of the incident.

Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19-year-old students at the University of Nottingham, and former Bulwell Academy caretaker Ian Coates, aged 65, were killed during the attacks on June 13.

Three other people were injured when the suspect stole Mr Coates’ van and tried to run three people over.

Calocane was later charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and is due at Nottingham Crown Court again this week.

The misconduct panel at force headquarters in Arnold heard that on June 15, PC Gell used police internal systems to access Calocane’s custody records.

PC Gell had already admitted to breaching standards of professional behaviour, namely around confidentiality.

The panel was also told Calocane’s records had been accessed 381 times by 179 Nottinghamshire police officers and staff in just four days.

The force also discovered through a search of PC Gell’s phone that he had forwarded a WhatsApp message with ‘graphic’ descriptions about the incident to two other people outside the force.

PC Gell said he believed at the time there was a “policing purpose” for his search of Calocane’s records, but admitted he strayed into “professional curiosity”.

Tom Hill, of the Police Federation, spoke on behalf of PC Gell and said he admitted a ‘lapse of judgement’ but said he had been treated ‘unfairly and harshly’ by the force.

Mr Hill said PC Gell accessed the records as he ‘strongly believed’ he had been involved in a separate incident involving Calocane in the past, but realised that was not the case.

David Ring, force solicitor, said: “The misconduct alleged relates to PC Gell searching police systems, sharing information by text to persons outside of the police when he had no policing purpose to do so.

“It is not permissible for police officers to access information when they do not have an organisational need to do so.

“On June 13 we are all aware that a terrible crime was committed of an extraordinary nature.

“That operation was code-named Operation Hendrix.

PC Gell was on duty on June 13 and was given a task to obtain elimination DNA samples.

“Other than that he had no involvement in Operation Hendrix.

“Information came to the attention of Nottinghamshire Police that the media had sensitive information about the suspect.

“The concern was raised that information may have been leaked and an investigation started.”

There was no suggestion that PC Gell had leaked information to the media.

Mr Ring said his actions involved “deliberate access to the system for an inappropriate reason”.

He added that the forwarded message was ‘distasteful’.

Mr Ring said : “He simply trawled through information relating to the suspect at a point where there was a live criminal investigation.

“It would appear that the reason for the exploration was curiosity and curiosity at the notoriety of the incident.

“The officer also shared information from within a police chat group outside of Nottinghamshire Police.

“These breaches must amount to gross misconduct.”

Mr Hill described PC Gell as a ‘sacrificial lamb’.

He said PC Gell fully accepts he sent a message to two people outside of the force.

He continued: “What he forwarded was a text sent to him and several other officers by a colleague on a shift.

“The colleague sent it into a shift WhatsApp group.

"Is it fair that one should be dealt with at the lowest level and one faces his fate at the highest level of misconduct?

“It seems unfair and unduly harsh.”

Nottinghamshire Police confirmed that the officer who sent the original message was ‘dealt with informally’ and carried out developmental learning.

On the access of records, Mr Hill said: “He believed he had a legitimate policing purpose to view the incident.

“His activity thereafter, he agrees, strays into the bracket of professional curiosity.”

The panel’s legally qualified chair Oliver Thorne concluded that PC Gell’s conduct amounted to gross misconduct.

Mr Thorne said there was ‘no malice’ in his actions.

He continued: “Whilst the contents of the message would cause discredit to policing, we do make allowance for the fact that he was not the initial author.”

Speaking of the access of police systems, he added: “We take the view that this started as a good faith exercise, whilst PC Gell continued when he realised he should not have done.

“A final written warning would just be in the public interest, therefore this is the right outcome.

"PC Gell can consider himself a lucky man.”

Detective Superintendent Leigh Sanders, of the East Midlands Major Crime Unit, who is leading the attacks investigation, added: “I have engaged with families and informed them that I expect the highest of standards from those that work within policing when it comes to this investigation.

“Any officer who breaches that trust and thinks that because they are a police officer they can access material relating to a homicide, needs to think again.

“This is not acceptable and anyone deemed to have done this will be dealt with severely under misconduct regulations, should that trust be breached.

“Those who access material without any legitimate policing purpose can expect the harshest of sanctions, including dismissal from the organisation.

“This is the message that I have conveyed to loved ones who have been affected by the Nottingham attacks.”

Calocane will next appear at Nottingham Crown Court on January 23.