Norfolk PC Sarah Corner resigns before data breach hearing

PC Sarah Corner obtained personal information from the police computer without permission

A constable fined £1,000 for illegally obtaining information from a police computer resigned a week before a gross misconduct hearing.

PC Sarah Corner, 24, was fined at Norwich Magistrates' Court on 28 September after admitting a breach of the Data Protection Act.

She resigned on 18 October before a disciplinary hearing on 26 October.

Norfolk Chief Constable Simon Bailey said Corner would have been dismissed had she still been a serving officer.

The hearing notice said the officer's conduct breached expected standards of professional behaviour in the areas of confidentiality, honesty and integrity amounting to discreditable conduct.

Mr Bailey said the actions of the former PC were a clear breach of trust amounting to gross misconduct.

"The public have the right to expect that police officers do not misuse police computer systems and that information held should be treated in strictest confidence," he said.

"Accessing confidential police information without a legitimate police purpose is a serious abuse of an officer's position and undermines public confidence."