17/01/03 - Officer's print
on leaked report
Daily Post Liverpool
THE fingerprint of a North Wales Police officer was found
on a confidential document about Sophie Hook's killer
which was sold to the press, a court heard yesterday.
PC David Gardner's right thumbprint appeared on the front
page of a medical and psychiatric report on Howard Hughes
which had been sold to a journalist for £5,000.
Preston Crown Court heard Gardner, 34, was not part of
the team investigating the murder, but had somehow got
hold of the documents and a photograph of Hughes taken
in custody. Sophie Hook was the little girl who was murdered
by Hughes while she was camping in the back garden of
a house in Llandudno.
Details from the report and the photograph were later
published in The Sun despite never being released by North
Wales Police. Prosecution witness Alan Lavery, head of
the North Wales Police fingerprint department, told the
jury it was Gardner's thumbprint on the document.
Gardner, of Llanrwst Road, Colwyn Bay, denies two charges
of corruptly receiving £5,000 for handing over the
confidential police report and receiving another quantity
of cash in return for the photograph.
Gardner's brother Geoffrey was a detective sergeant during
the investigation and was manager of the major incident
room, as well as the Hook family liaison officer. Tim
Holroyde QC, defending, said the defendant's thumbprint
could have been left merely by contact with the document.
Gardner said it must have happened when he looked at them
at his brother's home.
Mr Holroyde said: ``It could have been made by David Gardner
putting his thumb on a piece of paper if it was just laid
somewhere.'' The trial continues. |
