A police officer has been disciplined after a lengthy Police Ombudsman investigation into concerns that he had abused his position as a police officer to assist a friend facing a rape charge.

Concerns about the officer's role emerged when it became clear that he had accessed police records about the alleged rape and divulged information from those records to the accused (Witness A).

In addition, it also became clear during the trial that the officer (Officer 1) had been aware of video evidence which assisted Witness A's defence, yet had failed to make police aware of the footage.

The alleged rape happened on Monday 31 October 2005. The accused had been at a nightclub within Belfast's Odyssey complex with a number of friends including Officer 1 and Witness B. During the course of the evening he met Woman A, and was subsequently accused of raping her in an area of scrubland close to the Odyssey in the early hours of 31 October.

Witness A was acquitted of the rape charge at Belfast Crown Court in early 2007.

After learning about the evidence presented by Officer 1 during the trial, the PSNI launched an immediate investigation into his behaviour. These enquiries raised sufficient concerns for the Public Prosecution Service to formally refer the matter to the Police Ombudsman's Office for independent investigation.

All relevant police documentation, including telephone records, relating to Officer 1, Witness A and Witness B were disclosed by the PSNI to the Police Ombudsman's Office for the investigation.

Police Ombudsman investigators examined court transcripts, the PSNI computer system was forensically examined, and analytical specialists were engaged to plot and analyse the information.

Phone Calls

These enquiries revealed that in one half hour period on Tuesday 1 November 2005, the day after the alleged rape, Officer 1 checked the police record about the incident six times. In the same 30 minutes, three phone calls and one text message were exchanged between Officer 1's mobile phone and a mobile belonging to Witness B.

When interviewed by Police Ombudsman investigators, Officer 1 said he had accessed police records because he had heard Witness A had been cautioned for indecent exposure while having sexual intercourse outside the Odyssey. He said this had made him concerned about the company he was keeping and the potential impact this might have on his career.

Officer 1 added that he did not believe Witness A's account of events, and had accessed police records to check for himself. He recalled being shocked to find a record about an alleged rape at the Odyssey, the description and circumstances of which suggested that Witness A may have been the perpetrator.

Officer 1 said that as he could not recall what Witness A had been wearing on the night of the alleged offence, he then called Witness B to ask him. He said he did not discuss what had been on the police computer with Witness B, but was simply making 100% sure that Witness A was the alleged perpetrator before reporting the matter to his authorities.

Officer 1 reported the matter to his senior officer the following morning, Wednesday 2 November (this was subsequently confirmed by the Officer he reported it to).

However, records show that before he did so, in a one-hour period beginning at 8.44am on 2 November 2005, he exchanged text messages with Witness B, again accessed the police record about the rape, then called Witness B before exchanging another text message with him.

He then accessed the record for a final time at 10:50 hours on Wednesday 2 November 2005, using a terminal in the Sergeant's Office within the Neighbourhood Policing Team at Lisburn Road Police Station.

When asked why he had logged into the record on two occasions on the morning of 2 November 2005, Officer 1 said he had first checked to ensure that it was still there, before checking in a final time to show the record to Officer 3 after he had told him about his concerns.

Officer Divulged Details to Accused

Officer 1 also admitted discussing details from the police record of the alleged rape with the accused about a week after the incident. He said Witness A had called him and told him about the rape allegation, but believed it to be a "wind-up" at his expense.

Officer 1 said he informed Witness A of the seriousness of the allegation and advised him to meet police.

He also confirmed that he told Witness A about the contents of the police computer record relating to the rape allegation, including how the description of the alleged perpetrator matched Witness A's. Officer 1 also admitted providing him with other details from the record.

He advised Witness A that police had a photograph of him from that evening and said that if he failed to come forward, police would release the picture to the press to help identify him. He said he had given this information as Witness A kept insisting the matter was a joke and was not taking it seriously.

Telephone records also revealed a pattern of telephone contact between Officer 1, Witness A and Witness B in the hour after Witness A learned that a rape allegation had been made against him.

Witness A was informed about the rape allegation at 13:28 hours on 8 November 2005. Ten minutes later Witness A contacted Witness B, Witness B then called Officer 1, before Officer 1 phoned Witness A. When interviewed by police Ombudsman investigators, Officer 1 could not explain why he would have called Witness A and insisted that Witness A had called him.

Video Evidence

During the course of the rape trial in early 2007, the defence played a DVD showing Woman A and Witness A kissing and hugging in the Odyssey on the evening of Sunday 30 October 2005. The court heard that the footage had been recorded on Witness B's mobile phone.

In the weeks leading up to Witness A's trial, his defence solicitor asked Witness B to have the footage recorded onto DVD for use during the trial. Witness B sought the assistance of Officer 1, who then took it to a company in Belfast to get it recorded onto DVD.

Officer 1 explained during the pre-trial hearing that he had become aware of the footage about a week after the alleged rape and knew that it contained a kissing scene involving Woman A and Witness A.

He accepted that it was "vitally important evidence" but said he did not consider approaching Officer 2 as he thought police knew about the footage. He also admitted never checking that police had the footage, but blamed this on his inexperience (he was at the time halfway through his two year probationary period).

Officer 1 denied that his actions had been intended to assist the defence or that he had frustrated the police investigation.

On completing its enquiries, the Police Ombudsman's Office submitted a file of evidence in relation to Officer 1 to the Public Prosecution Service.

The PPS considered this evidence, and subsequently directed that Officer 1 should not face prosecution in relation to the allegations against him.

Disciplinary Action

The Police Ombudsman then considered whether Officer A's conduct amounted to misconduct and recommended that he should be the subject of a full powers misconduct hearing.

The hearing, which is independent of the Police Ombudsman's Office, found that Officer 1 had committed a number of misconduct offences and imposed disciplinary sanctions in relation to these.

In addition, the Police Ombudsman also asked the PSNI to investigate whether Witness A and Witness B may have committed criminal offences during the course of the events it had investigated (the Police Ombudsman was unable to investigate these matters as these witnesses were not police officers).