Paul Flattley made £7,600 from providing information about stars including Kate Middleton and Zara Phillips to the red-top
A former Metropolitan police officer who had access to private information about wealthy Chelsea residents including the Duchess of Cambridge and Tetra Pak heir Hans Rausing has been jailed for two years for selling stories about them to the Sun.
Paul Flattley had been in the force barely a year when he started the "sustained" provision of confidential information to the News International paper, which earned him a total of £7,600.
The officer, who was on the Met's rapid response team in Kensington and Chelsea, was imprisoned in March after he pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office but for legal reasons his crime could not be reported until now. Over three years from 2008 he contacted the paper 39 times, although the court heard that not all communication resulted in an article.
Flattley established a mutually beneficial relationship with Sun journalist Virginia Wheeler, emailing or texting about incidents almost immediately after they had happened or helping answer the paper's questions about royals or celebrities in the borough. For a good tip-off, he could earn £750.
His jailing could be reported for the first time on Wednesday after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it had decided to drop charges against Wheeler on medical grounds.
A lawyer representing the CPS told Southwark crown court that he had asked the attorney general for "nolle prosequi", which is permission to drop the Wheeler prosecution.
Wheeler's QC, James Wood, told the court Wheeler would have "vigoriously contested" the charges if the prosecution had gone ahead.
Sentencing Flattley in March, Mr Justice Fulford said Flattley did not care what effect his activities would have on the individuals whose privacy he invaded and that he was "simply motivated by personal profit from the sale of what he, no doubt, believed was a good story".
In his defence, Flattley's barrister told the court that the information he had passed on was "fairly low order" information and that he had offered to give evidence for the prosecution for the trial of the journalist.
He said Flattley, who was awarded the baton of honour for being the outstanding officer of his intake, was full of "shame and regret" and he wished to apologise to those whose personal details he had passed on.
Flattley joined the force as a special constable in 2005 and became a PC in 2007. He was regularly called to incidents involving high profile stars, footballers, politicians and protesters, ranging from minor traffic misdemeanours – Rausing had failed to stop at a red light – to those involving fatalities.
The court heard how he "developed on eye for celebrity stories" on his patch, making his first contact with the Sun in 2008 when he tipped off a reporter that the former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, who has battled with addiction for years, had been sectioned by police. Flattley claimed this was because he was concerned about the star and wanted to draw attention to his plight.
He went on to sell stories about Zara Phillips, politician Ann Widdecombe, footballer Jack Wilshere and others who either called emergency services or were involved in incidents in the west London borough.
One day when he was off duty, the paper phoned to see if he could confirm rumours that the Duchess of Cambridge, then Kate Middleton, was engaged to Prince William. He phoned his former sergeant, then on Middleton's protection team, to ask if they knew of a pending royal engagement. In addition he texted the reporter to say he would "get one of our lads to do a few passes by her place" that day to "see if there were any extra old bill" on duty, which might indicate an imminent announcement.
In another incident he tipped the paper off that singer Mika's sister had fallen from a third-floor window, texting the reporter to say the woman was "critically ill" and adding "Mika was there too, any good?". The reporter replied "Yes definitely, know if it was suicide attempt or accident?" and "Do you know how high the building?". For his assistance on this story he got £750.
Flattley also tipped off the same Sun reporter about another case in which a 15-year-old girl, Isobel Jones-Reilly, died after taking ecstasy she found in a university lecturer's drugs stash during a party at a friend's house in north Kensington.
The court heard Flattley had been on duty for 10 minutes when he texted the paper divulging the girl's address, that she had been pronounced dead and revealing that the house in question "would be a crime scene for some time", with three other teenagers involved. "One girl dead, one critical, one stable one missing," he texted, adding "this could be as big as the Leah Betts tragedy".
Fulford said the attitude revealed in the communication with the Sun reporter about people who were in his professional care was "utterly reprehensible" and was abuse of his public office.
He was the fourth police officer to be jailed as part of the Operation Elveden investigation into alleged corrupt payments to public officials from newspapers for stories and has received the heftiest sentence so far for activities which the Met said had "a corrosive effect" on the public confidence in the police.
In an impact statement read out in the court, Jones-Reilly's mother said she was "shocked" to learn about Flattley. "It's very hard to comprehend that anyone would see fit to provide information to a journalist about our child for monetary gain," she said. "We expect our police to be beyond reproach as they hold a position of trust. We were powerless after Isabel's death ... this has compounded our suffering and distress."
The Sun also benefited from a tip-off about Edward Woollard, an A-level student who was arrested in 2010 for throwing a fire extinguisher from the roof of the Tory party HQ in Millbank during the tuition fees riot.
Flattley told the Sun journalist Woollard was in custody in Belgravia and gave the paper his home address unlawfully.
Some of the contacts concerned rumours that turned out not to be true about people including Widdecombe, whom the paper heard had been arrested for drink driving. "I checked out all our systems there is no record of it in our systems," Flattley told the Sun, which paid him £100 for his help.
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Lisa O'Carroll
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
A former Metropolitan police officer who had access to private information about wealthy Chelsea residents including the Duchess of Cambridge and Tetra Pak heir Hans Rausing has been jailed for two years for selling stories about them to the Sun.
Paul Flattley had been in the force barely a year when he started the "sustained" provision of confidential information to the News International paper, which earned him a total of £7,600.
The officer, who was on the Met's rapid response team in Kensington and Chelsea, was imprisoned in March after he pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office but for legal reasons his crime could not be reported until now. Over three years from 2008 he contacted the paper 39 times, although the court heard that not all communication resulted in an article.
Flattley established a mutually beneficial relationship with Sun journalist Virginia Wheeler, emailing or texting about incidents almost immediately after they had happened or helping answer the paper's questions about royals or celebrities in the borough. For a good tip-off, he could earn £750.
His jailing could be reported for the first time on Wednesday after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it had decided to drop charges against Wheeler on medical grounds.
A lawyer representing the CPS told Southwark crown court that he had asked the attorney general for "nolle prosequi", which is permission to drop the Wheeler prosecution.
Wheeler's QC, James Wood, told the court Wheeler would have "vigoriously contested" the charges if the prosecution had gone ahead.
Sentencing Flattley in March, Mr Justice Fulford said Flattley did not care what effect his activities would have on the individuals whose privacy he invaded and that he was "simply motivated by personal profit from the sale of what he, no doubt, believed was a good story".
In his defence, Flattley's barrister told the court that the information he had passed on was "fairly low order" information and that he had offered to give evidence for the prosecution for the trial of the journalist.
He said Flattley, who was awarded the baton of honour for being the outstanding officer of his intake, was full of "shame and regret" and he wished to apologise to those whose personal details he had passed on.
Flattley joined the force as a special constable in 2005 and became a PC in 2007. He was regularly called to incidents involving high profile stars, footballers, politicians and protesters, ranging from minor traffic misdemeanours – Rausing had failed to stop at a red light – to those involving fatalities.
The court heard how he "developed on eye for celebrity stories" on his patch, making his first contact with the Sun in 2008 when he tipped off a reporter that the former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, who has battled with addiction for years, had been sectioned by police. Flattley claimed this was because he was concerned about the star and wanted to draw attention to his plight.
He went on to sell stories about Zara Phillips, politician Ann Widdecombe, footballer Jack Wilshere and others who either called emergency services or were involved in incidents in the west London borough.
One day when he was off duty, the paper phoned to see if he could confirm rumours that the Duchess of Cambridge, then Kate Middleton, was engaged to Prince William. He phoned his former sergeant, then on Middleton's protection team, to ask if they knew of a pending royal engagement. In addition he texted the reporter to say he would "get one of our lads to do a few passes by her place" that day to "see if there were any extra old bill" on duty, which might indicate an imminent announcement.
In another incident he tipped the paper off that singer Mika's sister had fallen from a third-floor window, texting the reporter to say the woman was "critically ill" and adding "Mika was there too, any good?". The reporter replied "Yes definitely, know if it was suicide attempt or accident?" and "Do you know how high the building?". For his assistance on this story he got £750.
Flattley also tipped off the same Sun reporter about another case in which a 15-year-old girl, Isobel Jones-Reilly, died after taking ecstasy she found in a university lecturer's drugs stash during a party at a friend's house in north Kensington.
The court heard Flattley had been on duty for 10 minutes when he texted the paper divulging the girl's address, that she had been pronounced dead and revealing that the house in question "would be a crime scene for some time", with three other teenagers involved. "One girl dead, one critical, one stable one missing," he texted, adding "this could be as big as the Leah Betts tragedy".
Fulford said the attitude revealed in the communication with the Sun reporter about people who were in his professional care was "utterly reprehensible" and was abuse of his public office.
He was the fourth police officer to be jailed as part of the Operation Elveden investigation into alleged corrupt payments to public officials from newspapers for stories and has received the heftiest sentence so far for activities which the Met said had "a corrosive effect" on the public confidence in the police.
In an impact statement read out in the court, Jones-Reilly's mother said she was "shocked" to learn about Flattley. "It's very hard to comprehend that anyone would see fit to provide information to a journalist about our child for monetary gain," she said. "We expect our police to be beyond reproach as they hold a position of trust. We were powerless after Isabel's death ... this has compounded our suffering and distress."
The Sun also benefited from a tip-off about Edward Woollard, an A-level student who was arrested in 2010 for throwing a fire extinguisher from the roof of the Tory party HQ in Millbank during the tuition fees riot.
Flattley told the Sun journalist Woollard was in custody in Belgravia and gave the paper his home address unlawfully.
Some of the contacts concerned rumours that turned out not to be true about people including Widdecombe, whom the paper heard had been arrested for drink driving. "I checked out all our systems there is no record of it in our systems," Flattley told the Sun, which paid him £100 for his help.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook
Lisa O'Carroll
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.