Disgrace to the force

The sentencing of the corrupt police officer DCI April Casburn of 15 months for trying to pass on sensitive police information to the (now-defunct) News of the World, about an investigation at which it was at the centre should have been for far longer.  Casburn knew she did not have a leg to stand on and the former army officer cynically began the adoption of a young child to force the judge to be lenient to her, when a maximum three-year sentence would have been appropriate.  Instead of which, because of the ridiculously easy conditions of ‘good behaviour’ (where you can do anything in prison as long as it does not constitute a crime) means she’ll be out before Christmas.  The adoption agency that let a person undergoing trial take on a vulnerable child are a bunch of bloody nincompoops who should all be sacked for gross negligence, before they can blight any other children’s lives.  In fact, the child isn’t even with her yet (she is in the final stages of the process) so her application should be terminated.  She is not a good example for this kid.

As DCS Duncan Ball, head of operations at Counter Terrorism Command, said in an impact statement read to the court, counter-terrorist policing is “highly dependent” on the trust and support of the intelligence agencies and if those agencies lost their trust in the police it could affect the flow of intelligence and “undermine public safety”.  Casburn wasn’t outraged at the hacking investigation diverting resources from ‘saving lives’ because, by her actions, she was putting lives at risk through the breakdown in trust that could occur.  She is a despicable piece of work.  Casburn may not spend long in jail but her name will be prefixed with ‘disgraced police officer’ for the rest of her life and that is the real punishment.