East London police officer avoids jail for computer misuse
Mohammed Sardar, 31, formerly attached to the East Area Basic Command Unit – which covers Havering, Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham – was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday (January 8). This comes after he pleaded guilty to five charges under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Sardar, investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), received a nine-month prison sentence which is suspended for two years.
He has been ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work. Steve Noonan, IOPC director of operations, said: “Any officer who intentionally accesses police records for personal use has no place in policing. “PC Sardar had no legitimate reason to access records of individuals known to him and his actions have the potential to damage the public’s confidence in police officers.”
RELATED NEWS: Met Police officer from Romford denies sex offence[1] Sardar repeatedly accessed computer systems to view police records related to people he knew from 2018 to 2021. This was without any legitimate policing purpose, the IOPC[2] ruled.
It was also found that Sardar viewed records of a close associate who had been charged and was awaiting trial. He did a check on police systems regarding his own vehicle after it was involved in a crash, the IOPC[3] added. The Metropolitan Police became aware of allegations involving Sardar in June 2021.
It made a conduct referral to the IOPC, which began an investigation in July that year. This was concluded in June 2022 where a file of evidence was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service which authorised the charges. The IOPC later ruled that Sardar should face a hearing for potential gross misconduct.
In December 2023 an accelerated misconduct hearing was held where gross misconduct was proved. This was for breaching the standard of professional behaviour related to discreditable conduct. Sardar was dismissed without notice from the Met and placed on a barred list to prevent him from future work there.
Mr Noonan added: “Police computer systems contain a vast amount of sensitive information about individuals under investigation and the public should rightly expect that all police officers treat this information in strict confidence and only access these records for policing purposes.”