A WOMAN who worked for Cheshire Police illegally trawled data systems to check up on ex-partners and their family members.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Helen Millington illegally accessed police data systems on many occasions between April and August 2021.

The 55-year-old, from Westbrook, worked as a communications supervisor at the North West Motorway Patrol Group Regional Control Centre in Newton-le-Willows, and joined Cheshire Police on August 27, 1991.

On October 18 last year Cheshire Police’s Counter Corruption Unit (CCU) received information that Millington had been accessing the police national computer to check on the whereabouts of her ex-partner’s vehicle.

She also checked on the whereabouts of vehicles used by her ex-partner’s family members, as well as details relating to another ex-partner.

CCU research established a distinct pattern of significant suspected police IT systems misuse by Millington.

She revealed what she had been doing to a friend who was a policewoman during a walk in the summer of 2021.

An anonymous source reported the misuse, and on November 29, Millington was arrested.

She initially claimed that she had done the searches because she was worried that her ex-partner was driving when he had been drinking.

However, the investigation showed that there had been no legitimate reason for the searches.

She was charged and on July 7 this year, at Crewe Magistrates’ Court, she pleaded guilty to causing a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorised access to a programme and knowingly or recklessly obtain or disclose personal data.

She was sentenced immediately to 100 hours of unpaid work.

Following the sentencing, Jack Child, of CPS Mersey Cheshire, said: “Helen Millington used her position of trust with Cheshire Police to access information about her ex-partner, his family members and other people for no legitimate reason whatsoever.

“She was aware that this was prohibited, yet she carried on doing it. Her offending was frequent and bore a pattern over several months.

“A role with the police brings with it access to all sorts of sensitive information, and staff are expected to use this access for only the legitimate reasons it has been given – not to trawl for information about ex-partners.

“She has now lost her good name and has a criminal record. She has only herself to blame.”