Leeds PCSO misused police computer to find details of man she had affair with

Lara Gaunt also made arrangements to buy cocaine and accessed West Yorkshire Police computers for details when a man she knew was arrested on suspicion of assault.

Leeds Crown Court heard Gaunt, 33, a West Yorkshire PCSO for nine years, would lose her job.

Gaunt pleaded guilty to two offences of gaining unauthorised access to computer material and an offence of attempting to possess a class A drug.

Richard Holland, prosecuting, said one of the offences related to a sexual relationship she had with a known offender.

Gaunt, of Church Avenue, Horsforth, Leeds, accessed computers on July 9, 2015, to obtain information on an ongoing rape investigation after the man had been arrested.

Gaunt’s mobile phone messages revealed she had made arrangements for the same man to supply her with three bags of cocaine for £130.

Mr Holland said Gaunt also illegally accessed police computers on November 4, 2015, and obtained information about a man after he was arrested on suspicion of assault.

Adam Walker, mitigating, said: “She became slack and just fell in to the bad habit of going to the computer to satisfy her curiosity in this case.”

The barrister said Gaunt, now four months pregnant, accepted that the drug conviction meant she had fell well below the standards expected of an officer. Gaunt was given a six month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.