RGP officers admit data offences after Crown withdraws misconduct charges

A serving Royal Gibraltar Police officer and a former police officer had misconduct charges withdrawn in the Supreme Court on Thursday, as they admitted to lesser offences relating to data breaches of police material.

Serving police officer Sean Picton, 37, and former police officer, Anthony Bolaños, 38, pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing police material without the consent of the data controller during a period between October 2022 and January 2023.

Picton had accessed RGP material and passed on the information to Bolaños, who in turn passed on the information to a person under investigation, which included the progress and outcome of the decision whether to charge or caution.

The defendants had initially faced more serious charges.

Picton had faced misconduct in public office and Bolaños aiding and abetting misconduct in public office.

On Thursday morning the court heard that the Attorney General had given a ‘fiat’ meaning formal authorisation of new charges.

This meant the crown withdrew the charges of misconduct and aiding and abetting and instead introduced less serious charges of obtaining and disclosing data.

Puisne Judge Matthew Happold told the court that this was a significant reduction in the seriousness of the charges.

He said the initial charges had a common law sentence of up to life imprisonment and that the penalty for the new charges was a fine.

Mr Justice Happold said that having looked at the evidence in this case there would have been a “realistic prospect of conviction”.

He decided not to sentence on Thursday and will sentence on February 2, the day the men were meant to have stood trial.

ABUSE OF PROCESS

Mr Justice Happold also lifted reporting restrictions, at the request of the defence, on an abuse of process application which had been heard last year.

At the time Mr Justice Happold had refused the application, which sought to have the proceedings dismissed, and instead the judge had ordered the trial to go ahead.

The court application had argued that allowing the case to continue would be an abuse of the court’s process and alleged improper conduct of former Commissioner of Police Richard Ullger.

The defendants had alleged that Mr Ullger “put pressure on subordinates” and sought to engineer giving a caution to an individual under police investigation.

“In my view, there is no evidence to support the allegation that Mr Ullger sought to engineer the giving of a caution,” Mr Justice Happold said in his ruling.

“Mr Ullger denies having done so, and those involved in the process who gave evidence say they were put under no pressure either by him or anyone else.”

The defendants had also raised issue with Mr Ullger’s WhatsApp exchanges with the individual’s wife, who worked at the RGP.

The court reviewed two WhatsApp exchanges, which the defence said show that Mr Ullger inappropriately communicated with a compromised person; that he communicated details of the investigation of her husband; and that he disclosed what the outcome of that investigation was to be.

Mr Justice Happold said the wife was in distress and Mr Ullger was seeking to reassure her and to explain the process that was being followed to determine her husband’s case.

“What the messages do not do, in my opinion, is indicate that Mr Ullger inappropriately revealed details of the investigation or of what its outcome was anticipated to be,” he said.

Mr Justice Happold added that he does not consider that the WhatsApp messages argue that Mr Ullger acted inappropriately in his communications with the individual’s wife.

“Much of the Defence’s attack on Mr Ullger proceeded on the basis of rumour and innuendo, in a context where the other party to the impugned communications did not give evidence,” the judge said.

Mr Justice Happold’s ruling was to refuse the application.

Inspector Sean Picton remains interdicted.

Johann Fernandez appeared for the Crown.

Shane Danino represented both defendants.