Leeds police officer with underworld boyfriend jailed for 'trawling' work database

PC Sanya Shahid was handed a nine-month sentence at Leeds Crown Court this morning after she admitted three misconduct offences, accessing unauthorised material.

Judge Robin Mairs told her: "It was systematic trawling for information on your then partner. You knew he had links to organised crime, firearms, drugs and serious criminality.

"No appropriate reason has ever been given for your searching of this material. Every officer in the land is well aware that it [the police system] can't be used as a source of personal research."

The court heard that Shahid, who had been living in Bradford but working as an officer in Leeds, became a special constable in 2015 before becoming a full-time PC a year later. She harboured ambitions of joining the counter-terrorism unit.

However, she never revealed her relationship with the man, whom she knew was previously involved in organised crime and had served time in jail.

On February 11, 2021, she and the man were parked up in an Audi during lockdown, and patrolling police officers approached them after a quick check revealed the car to be linked to previous crimes.

She gave a false address in Bradford after the officers recognised her voice. She then sent a Facebook message to one of the officers asking if they had "run the plate", meaning if they had investigated the origins of the car. It only served to raise suspicions of the officers, the court heard.

Following an investigation, it was found that 31-year-old Shadid had made extensive searches on the police database over a two-day period in October 2020 for car registration plates and phone numbers, without a legitimate purpose. She was charged and denied the matters, but changed her pleas four days into her court trial.

Shahid, now of Nile Street, Rochdale, was suspended from duty, and following her conviction, expects to be fired. Mitigating on her behalf, Rebecca Hadgett said it was a "considerable lapse of judgement" by the ambitious officer.

She added: "These were searches but they were conducted over a short two-day period. There's no evidence of planning, there was nothing particularly sophisticated and she acted alone. There are cases of financial motivation but there's nothing like that suggested here.

"She was a caring and considerate woman who was dedicated to her job. She has lost that and all that progress towards her career she genuinely cared about and worked hard to achieve."

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Speaking after her sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Nicola Bryar, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards, said: “We make it very clear to all employees from the outset of their employment that they must only access information held on police systems for a legitimate policing purpose.

"The public quite rightly should expect that any sensitive and confidential information recorded about them is protected.  It was clear from this investigation that PC Shahid had no policing purpose in making the searches she carried out on West Yorkshire Police computer systems. I hope this case helps demonstrates how seriously we take any suggestion of unauthorised access of data.  

“PC Shahid is currently suspended from duty and misconduct proceedings will now commence.”