April Casburn, senior police detective, convicted for efforts to sell info to News of the World
In this file picture taken on January 7, 2013 Detective April Casburn arrives at Southwark Crown Court in central London, to face charges related to misconduct in a public office over claims she passed information to the News of the World, the now-defunct tabloid. A former British counter-terrorism detective was found guilty on January 10, 2013 of trying to sell information about a phone hacking investigation to the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid. A jury convicted Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn of offering the now-defunct newspaper information about a probe into whether Scotland Yard’s inquiry into the illegal hacking of mobile phones should be reopened.
April Casburn, a senior police detective, was convicted of trying to sell information to News of the World. She is the first person to be convicted in the probe of the phone-hacking scandal since it reopened in 2011.
Detective Chief Inspector Casburn, 53, from Essex, was found guilty of misconduct in public office, BBC News reported. She was the head of the Metropolitan Police's terrorist financing investigation unit.
The case against her was part of Operation Elveden, the investigation into journalists paying officials for information.
Casburn called News of the World on September 11, 2010, when she gave editor Tim Wood information about two ex-journalists — Andy Coulson and Sean Hoare — who were being looked into as part of the inquiry, Sky News reported.
According to a key witness, Casburn wanted to "torpedo the hacking inquiry" because she was worried it would take away important resources from the fight against Terror, the Associated Press reported.
"It is a great disappointment that a detective chief inspector in the counter-terrorism command should have abused her position in this way," said Detective Chief Superintendent Gordon Briggs, who oversees the linked investigations into phone hacking and corrupt public officials, The Guardian reported.
There's no place for corrupt officers or staff in the Metropolitan police service. We hope that the prosecution demonstrates that leaking or in this case trying to sell confidential information to journalists for personal gain will not be tolerated," he added.
Casburn is currently out on bail until her sentencing next month, according to BBC. She is reportedly in the middle of adopting a child, which could impact her sentence.
"A real possibility is an immediate custodial sentence, but I'm obviously going to have to consider very carefully the issues that we've ventilated this afternoon and any other mitigation," said Justice Fulford.
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