Luton custody officer jailed over Facebook shooting

Jonpaul Pasqualone used a computer to access restricted files

A Bedfordshire Police custody officer has been jailed for seven years over a drug dealer's picture on Facebook.

Jonpaul Pasqualone, 28, stole the picture from a police file and gave it to a former friend. He pleaded guilty to misconduct and firearms charges.

The picture showed convicted drug dealer Domenico Masciopinto with the caption he was a police informer. He was shot just hours after it appeared.

Pasqualone had been threatened into stealing the picture, a court heard.

Masciopinto survived being shot in the chest and the wrist although one of the unknown gunman's bullets lodged near his spine.

Three men have been tried for the attempted murder of Masciopinto but the cases were dismissed on each occasion.

Pasqualone pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an act of misconduct in a public office.

He also admitted possessing two prohibited firearms that he had bought in Bulgaria all of which were found at his home in Herron Heights, Bedford.

He lived with his girlfriend in a privately owned penthouse flat and drove a silver TT Audi with a personal number plate, St Albans Crown Court heard.

Peter Shaw, prosecuting, said Pasqualone used a computer at Luton police station where he worked to access a series of intelligence reports despite strict rules on the viewing of such information.

He was able to photograph on-screen documents using his mobile phone. He went into a file that left a permanent record of anyone accessing it.

Police officer hope

The court heard Pasqualone and his girlfriend had been threatened with violence by a former friend into obtaining the picture.

He copied the picture onto his mobile phone and at home added the caption "'A Police Informant since 2009".

He later transferred the picture to his friend's phone when they met at the Bedford flat later.

Pasqualone was arrested shortly after Masciopinto was shot, Mr Shaw said.

Bozzie Sheffi, defending, said: "His great regret is that he succumbed to the threat."

Judge Stephen Gullick told Pasqualone: "The consequences of what you did resulted in a man being shot - fortunately not fatally.

"Your recompense for what you did was to receive £1,000 in cash.

"When Mr Masciopinto discovered what had happened, he was very annoyed and feared for his own and his family's safety.

"He was not a police informant and never had been, he was a dealer in Class A drugs based in Bedford.

"He has recently been convicted to conspiring to supply Class A drugs and he is presently serving 14 years in prison."

The court was told Pasqualone had joined Bedfordshire Police in 2010 in a civilian role working in the custody department.

Before that, he had worked as a detention officer at Yarlswood Immigration Detention Centre for four years and hoped eventually to become a full time police officer.