A “NOSEY” ex-policeman who illegally used force computers to snoop on former Liverpool FC striker Djibril Cisse was jailed for 12 months.
Cheshire PC Mohammed Ahmed, 27, secretly accessed the systems about 300 times to find out information about people he knew before an audit finally revealed his corrupt behaviour.
His barrister, Trevor Parry-Jones, told how he became “addicted” to looking up information. Among the files he accessed was one relating to Cisse, who was arrested in January, 2006, for an alleged domestic assault at his Frodsham home.
Ahmed later twice looked at his file without authority.
Judge Bryn Holloway said: “I can only assume you felt a sense of power and enhancement of your standing in your own eyes.”
He added: “The preservation of the integrity of information on the public held on data bases, including police forces, is fundamentally important to the well-being of society.”
Ahmed, of California Close, Great Sankey, Warrington, denied seven offences of misconduct in public office, but was found guilty at a re-trial last month after jurors heard he used the computers “like his own playground”.
Ahmed, who was based in Northwich, joined the force in August, 2005, after obtaining a degree in information systems. Two of those he checked up on were girlfriends, one of whom he had a volatile relationship with.
Mr Parry-Jones said Ahmed, who resigned two weeks after his conviction, was immature.
