leaking police records to violent criminal

There's some interesting coverage online about a police officer who improperly accessed a police database and passed individuals' personal details on to a man with a violent criminal record.

Quick snippet from THE REGISTER:

James Andrew Hardy was previously found guilty of misfeasance in a public office for improperly accessing the police database and was not jailed. He was given a suspended prison sentence of 28 weeks and 300 hours of community service.

The judges ruled that the sentence should include an element of deterrence in order to make it clear to other police officers that the improper use of information in the police database was an offence that would be severely punished.