A former Derbyshire Police call handler has been jailed for tipping off her boyfriend about a drugs raid, exploiting access to confidential police systems just months into her role. Ellie-Mae Doherty, 22, used her position to warn her boyfriend, who had a criminal record, about search warrants being executed at properties linked to his associates, undermining the operation and highlighting risks around vetting and internal data security within police forces.

Doherty, from Ripley, Derbyshire, was 19 when she joined the force and had only been in post for three months before misusing the system; she was jailed for 11 months at Leicester Crown Court after admitting misconduct in public office and failing to disclose her links to criminals. She was caught after investigators found a message on her boyfriend's phone referencing a tip-off from "my bird who works at Ripley police". A friend and colleague, Jessica Fitzhugh, 22, who had recommended Doherty for the job and also had a boyfriend involved in criminality, was separately sentenced to four months for accessing unauthorised police data, after both women had falsely declared no links to criminal associates during vetting.