Ex-policeman facing jail over deal with Sun

James Bowes, 30, from Steyning, West Sussex, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to misconduct in public office in 2010. He was remanded on unconditional bail to be sentenced on May 9.

Mr Justice Fulford warned him that the granting of bail was “no indication of disposal”.

No details of the case were given during the short hearing.

Bowes is said to have passed on information of investigations to the tabloid between April 9 and July 20 2010 while working for Sussex Police.

An earlier hearing was told he contacted the News of the World offering information from a confidential police report and asking what it was worth.

Then on April 19 he contacted The Sun and offered to sell them information, including names and contact details. An article was subsequently published and Mr Bowes was paid £500.

In July that year, 2010, he again contacted the Sun and provided information about a search that was due to take place, leading to a number of stories, but was not remunerated.

Bowes was charged by officers from Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan police investigation into police corruption.

Last month in separate cases ex-Surrey Pc Alan Tierney and former prison officer Richard Trunkfield were both jailed for selling stories to the Sun. Trunkfield passed on details about James Bulger killer, Jon Venables, while Tierney sold details of the arrests of footballer John Terry’s mother and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood.