A former Tayside Police officer who tipped off a suspect in a counterfeit cash inquiry because she feared a photograph of her taking drugs could wreck her career has been jailed for 27 months.
Sheriff Elizabeth Munro told Karen Howie (35), of Panbride View, Carnoustie, she had betrayed the principles she had sworn to uphold when she became a police officer.
Advocate Gavin Anderson for Howie who also covered up for co-accused Neil Hand (45) by stating he had insurance for a van when she knew otherwise said his client had met Hand in 2009 when he was contracted to do work at her home.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Howie’s marriage to another serving police officer was already in trouble and the pair struck up a friendship.
They bumped into each in Broughty Ferry and later in June 2009 Hand had asked Howie out for a drink in Forfar.
According to Mr Anderson, the pair met and eventually went back to a flat in town where Howie claims she was asked by Hand to take the party drug Bubbles which was then legal.
He said, “Miss Howie had never taken the substance before, but in her drunken state was persuaded by Mr Hand to do so and he showed her what to do and how to take it.
“The drug consisted of a white powder in capsule form. Mr Hand broke the capsule, placed the drug on the table and inhaled it by a rolled up bank note. Miss Howie then did likewise.
“In order to inhale the substance, Miss Howie leant forward nearer to the table. Her hair fell forward and obscured her view. When she had inhaled the substance she became aware Mr Hand was behind her.”
Mr Anderson told the court Hand then informed Howie he had taken a photo of her on his mobile phone snorting the drug.
He said, “Mr Hand told Miss Howie…he was going to keep hold of the photograph and use it against her as he had a picture of how he described it a ‘cop doing drugs’.
“At that stage, Miss Howie realised that should that be shown to police colleagues they might infer that what she was inhaling was a controlled drug.”
Mr Anderson said his client phoned a taxi and left believing the photograph existed, although she had not seen it herself. She did not mention it to anyone and feared she could lose her job and her husband over the incident.
He said his client did not wish or seek a friendship with Hand from that point, but they did remain in contact and on occasion his client “sought to assist” Hand to prevent the photograph becoming public. In relation to the van insurance charge admitted by his client, Mr Anderson said Howie as a PC had been asked to attend Hand’s house.False insurance detailsMr Anderson said Hand had shown her an insurance cover note and had said he had insurance. He said his client admitted making up the expiry date for the insurance when filling in an official form.
She left and an hour later, Mr Anderson told the court, Hand contacted his client and confirmed he did not have insurance for the vehicle.
“At this point, Miss Howie was asked by Mr Hand if she could help him out of his position and she agreed to do so.”
Turning to the counterfeit currency-related charge, Mr Anderson said Howie had been aware of Hand and his association with another man.
The court heard that, around August 2009, Hand had asked Howie to look up details of the man on the police computer system and “obtain anything she could find out.”
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Knowing Hand owed the man money and was being threatened for its return, Mr Anderson said his client did search the system but initially found no information. At a later date, she noticed an update on the system relating to a counterfeit money inquiry and it stated police were seeking a warrant to search the man’s house.
Mr Anderson said his client had passed that information to Hand and she accepted her actions were “designed to tip off” the man being investigated by her colleagues.
Defence advocate Jonathan Crowe for Hand, also of Carnoustie, told the court his client denied the Bubbles episode had ever taken place.
In his own submission to the court, Mr Crowe said his client struck up a friendship with Howie during the time he was working on her bathroom.
He said his client had received “flirtatious” text messages from Howie and there was a “gradual increase in the sexual content of the messages.” He said Hand met Howie for a drink in Broughty Ferry and the pair later met at a bar in Forfar. The man under suspicion in the bogus currency case was also in the pub.
Mr Crowe said, “At that point Miss Howie advised Mr Hand that she had certain information” about the man and wanted his phone number.
Mr Crowe said Hand and the man were not friends, but thought it “best” to comply with the request of a police officer.SentencingSentencing the pair, Sheriff Munro imposed a fine of £2250 on Hand. She told him it was a “very serious charge” that he had admitted and said she personally did not consider a fine the only disposal available to her reflected the seriousness of his offence.
Turning to Howie, Sheriff Munro said she accepted she was suffering from anxiety and depression, but said her concern was she was not convinced she was truly remorseful.
“You were the police officer you were the responsible one,” she said. “These are both betrayals of the very principles you undertook to uphold at the time of becoming a police officer. Accordingly, only a prison sentence is appropriate.”
Howie was jailed for nine months on the insurance charge and received a further 18 months for passing information to a suspect in the counterfeit cash case and admonished on a third charge.