A POLICE officer is facing the sack after using the force computer system to dig up sensitive information about a man suing for wrongful arrest and branded him a racist.
Inspector Mark Doherty is accused of checking out the background of Alan Hardy before sharing the details with another man in a series of Facebook messages in 2018.
A disciplinary panel heard how the 15-year veteran at Cleveland Police compounded the problem when he allegedly doctored a Wikileaks entry in a desperate attempt to cover his tracks.
Stephen Morley, representing the force, said Insp Doherty continued 'to dig a hole' for himself when he destroyed some documents and was unable to show how he legitimately found information about the complainant.
He said: "He has created this (the Wikileaks document) because he thinks this is a great wheeze to get out of the investigation he was under for the Facebook posting."
Mr Morley said there was a number of inaccuracies in the fake entry on the BNP membership list, which was published in 2007, including Mr Hardy's home address.
The panel heard how the problem between the officer and former BNP member Mr Hardy started when Insp Doherty arrested him in Stockton police station in 2015.
In a series of letters Mr Hardy branded the officer a 'mad dog' and threatened to sue to force and this was the catalyst for Insp Doherty to bring up the complainant's past and publish details about him being forced to leave the police in the 1970s due to his far-right leanings.
A claim that Mr Hardy categorically denies.
The officer admitted that he looked up Mr Hardy on the force computer system but denied sharing the information with anybody else.
The father-of-three denies he breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Authority, Respect and Courtesy, Confidentiality, Orders and Instructions and Discreditable Conduct relating to allegations of wrongful disclosure of information.
He also denies he breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Honesty and Integrity and Discreditable Conduct by producing a document which was altered and submitted during the course of a Gross Misconduct Investigation following the initial complaint.
Giving evidence during the hearing, Insp Doherty categorically denied creating the false document from Wikileaks.
The former IT manager said: "If I had amended the document, which I didn't, those errors would not be there. I have worked in data for the best part of my adult life."
Under cross examination from Mr Morley, the officer denied faking the document to cover his tracks and reiterated his claim that he found the political information about Mr Hardy from a public source not the police computer network.
The misconduct hearing continues.
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