A police officer who passed information to two criminal associates she had relationships with has been jailed.
Choni Kenny, 27, who joined Greater Manchester Police in 2020, was handed a prison sentence of three years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court earlier.
A two-day sentencing hearing was told she had a “casual sexual relationship” with Josh Whelan, described by Judge Neil Flewitt KC as a “committed criminal”, and a “physical but casual” relationship with former schoolmate Rahim Mottley.
Judge Flewitt told Kenny: “You have let down not only GMP and the community it serves but also yourself, your family and your friends.”
He said: “Your actions were not motivated by a desire for a financial or other advantage or borne out of any malice.
“They were a consequence of your naivety, immaturity and wish to maintain the friendship of Josh Whelan and Rahim Mottley.”
He said the men “took advantage” and “exploited” Kenny’s willingness to disclose information which could be of benefit to themselves and criminal associates.
But he added: “You must have known that what you were doing was wrong.”
The court heard Kenny was attracted to both men and may have been “infatuated” with Whelan.
The court heard Whelan, 31, was in possession of 20 different mobile phones while serving time in prison between 2021 and 2023 and their use was funded by Kenny.
Judge Flewitt said it was an “aggravating feature” that it was clear from conversations Kenny knew Whelan was a drug dealer.
“You were helping him to supervise that operation from prison,” he added.
Kenny accessed police information and intelligence which she disclosed to Whelan, including a victim statement taken when he was accused of violence against a former partner, the court heard.
In November 2022, when Whelan was released from a prison sentence, Kenny was seen with him in her BMW and went to a Nando’s restaurant with him, before going to work where she searched for details of prisoners released that week.
Alexander Beevers, defending Whelan, said: “He is a convicted criminal. His co-defendant liked that aspect of his character, it is something which appealed to her and unfortunately she, in addition and unusually, had the status of being a police officer.
“She was willing to make use of that status.”
‘Firearms tip-off’
The court heard after Mottley was arrested in February 2022, Kenny searched police systems to access information about the investigation.
She told him about a planned police firearms raid and promised to find out who the “local grasses” were before attending a course about handling police informants, the court heard.
Mottley was arrested in Spain, where some of his family lived and Kenny had spent time with him, and was extradited to face proceedings.
Kenny, of Tennyson Road in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, admitted four counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office at an earlier hearing.
Mottley, 28, was sentenced to two years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.
Whelan, of Purley Avenue in Wythenshawe, Manchester, was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting three counts of possessing a specified item in prison, possession of a bladed article, racially aggravated assault, threatening behaviour and a bail offence.
