Police administrator jailed for leaking information to drug dealer boyfriend

A police administrator has been jailed for almost three years after leaking confidential information to her drug dealer boyfriend.
Lucy Langmead, 44, started a relationship with 37-year-old Daniel Cozens in 2020 while working for South Wales Police, and began providing him with police intelligence.
Langmead, who is pregnant with her fourth child, accessed the police computer system numerous times to obtain information on Cozens, his family and friends, and also to satisfy her own 'morbid curiosity' about cases in the news.
At Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, handed Langmead and Cozens sentences of two years and 11 months and one year and eight months respectively.
A police investigation was launched after a community support officer was approached while on foot patrol in Pontypridd in 2021 by a woman who Langmead had informed of an investigation into her boyfriend.
The court heard the woman told the officer she thought they were looking into him because 'I have a friend who works in the courts, and she told me he was being watched'.
The woman and her boyfriend later approached another officer, questioned the number of police patrols, and mentioned information that could only have been obtained from the police systems.
Langmead, from Tonteg, Pontypridd, and Cozens, from Treforest, pleaded guilty to a series of offences, including conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between May 23 2021 and February 25 2022.
The judge said that throughout training and every time the system is accessed, users are warned about misuse, with every access logged.
Addressing Langmead, the judge said: 'From the outset you knew you were committing criminal offences and appeared to do so partly from idle curiosity and partly to elevate your status – in other words you were showing off – including to offenders.
'This was a very serious breach of trust that is placed in police employees.
'You have, by your actions, done serious harm to policing and the public interest.'
She said Cozens's offending was 'significantly less serious' because he did not work for the police.
The judge said there had been 'no financial reward' for either of them, but it had put them in 'good standing' among offenders they were assisting, with one disposing of drugs he was dealing after a tip-off.
Langmead had also accessed records to satisfy her curiosity, including the case of Logan Mwangi, a five-year-old whose body was discovered in a river near his home in Sarn.
'Logan Mwangi was a five-year-old child who had been murdered and whose body had, at that time, recently been found in a river,' Judge Lloyd-Clarke said.
'There was a lot of publicity around his death, and you could only have been continuing to access the file to satisfy your own morbid curiosity.'
Langmead pleaded guilty to 13 offences of securing unauthorised access to computer material and five offences of unlawful disclosure of personal data.
Cozens pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug of class C (Benzodiazepines), being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug of class C (Pregablins) and possession of a controlled drug of class B (cannabis).
Both will serve up to half their sentences in prison, with the rest on licence.
Langmead resigned from South Wales Police in May 2022.
Chief Superintendent Bella Rees, head of professional standards at South Wales Police, said: ' Police officers and staff have access to personal and private information and it is both a public expectation and a legal requirement that information should be treated in the strictest confidence, properly protected and used for legitimate policing purposes only.
'Accessing confidential police information without a legitimate policing purpose is an abuse of position and, as this case demonstrates, will be treated robustly.'
John Griffiths of the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'Lucy Langmead had the complete trust of her employer in having access to sensitive information and she betrayed that trust.
'Her actions could have placed criminal investigations at risk.
'Daniel Cozens used his relationship with Langmead to try to gain an advantage over the police in his criminal behaviour.
'However, the audit trail from the police computer systems led investigators to them, and together with other evidence allowed the Crown Prosecution Service to present a strong case to the court and ensure these defendants were brought to justice.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Sun

an hour ago

• The Sun

Thousands of plush toys sold in UK are urgently recalled & ‘rejected at border' over ‘serious' health risk

THOUSANDS of plush toys across the UK have been urgently recalled after they were flagged over a serious health risk. Locisne has pulled its Hamster Plush Toy from store shelves - with conerns it could present a serious risk to life. The item has been removed from online marketplaces including from Amazon. "This product presents a serious risk of choking as the eyes of the hamster can detach and fit wholly in a small parts cylinder," a government report said. "If a child under 3 were to use and mouth the toy, the small parts may become detached and cause the child to choke. "The product does not meet the requirements of the Toys [Safety] Regulations 2011." Other recent product recalls While the laws around toys are stringent, products still make it to market that present a danger to children. The Nail Art Studio kit, by the brand Girls Creator, is a nail art set that includes nail varnish, a battery-operated nail dryer and a range of nail accessories. However, a warning was issued after a product safety report found a risk of suffocation for children. Another recent example was the Joycat Baby Float, sold on Amazon. The blue and yellow sea-themed swim seat, intended for babies and toddlers, was blocked from entering the country at the border. The float was branded a safety risk after authorities found that its attachable canopy could lift the float from the water in windy conditions, putting children in danger. Ford Recalls Over 1 Million Vehicles: Rearview Camera Glitch Explained The report also raised concerns that the float's colours do not provide enough contrast with the water, making it harder to spot in an emergency. What are my product recall rights? Product recalls are an important means of protecting consumers from dangerous goods. As a general rule, if a recall involves a branded product, the manufacturer would usually have lead responsibility for the recall action. But it's often left up to supermarkets to notify customers when products could put them at risk. If you are concerned about the safety of a product you own, always check the manufacturer's website to see if a safety notice has been issued. When it comes to appliances, rather than just food items, the onus is usually on you - the customer - to register the appliance with the manufacturer as if you don't there is no way of contacting you to tell you about a fault. If you become aware that an item you own has been recalled or has any safety noticed issued against it, make sure you follow the instructions given to you by the manufacturer. They should usually provide you with more information and a contact number on its safety notice. In some cases, the manufacturer might ask you to return the item for a full refund or arrange for the faulty product to be collected.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Reform is on course to WIN next General Election, new poll shows - as Nigel Farage's party takes nine-point lead over Labour

Reform UK is now on course to win the next General Election, a shock new poll shows - as they take a stunning nine-point lead over Labour. The voting intention for Nigel Farage 's party's was more than double that of the Tories, who languished in third with 15 per cent, compared to Labour's 25 per cent and Reform's 34 per cent. An Ipsos opinion poll highlighted the rocketing success of the party and rising contempt for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves ' chaotic first year in power. Replicated in a General Election, the figures would give Reform an overwhelming 400 seats in the Commons - with a majority of 200, The Telegraph reports. Figures show that 54 per cent of Labour voters and 48 per cent of Tory voters have changed their support - with a high proportion of defectors from both going to Reform. Farage would become Prime Minister and there would be just 10 Conservative seats, while Labour would be reduced from 403 to 140. 'This poll shows Reform can and will win the next general election,' Farage told the broadsheet. Figures from the polling of 1,180 Brits show Labour's plunging popularity, after winning the 2024 General Election with the biggest majority since Tony Blair. But figures now show him to be the least popular prime minister at this stage of his time in office since records began. Just 19 per cent say they are satisified with the work he is doing - while 73 per cent are dissatisfied. In comparison, after the same amount of time Boris Johnson had an approval raiting of 48 per cent, Blair's was 68 per cent and John Major's was 54 per cent. The Conservatives' polling is also the worst since records began, with only 11 per cent of voters satisfied with Kemi Badenoch's work. Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, told The Telegraph: 'Reform UK has continued to build on its success, helped by high levels of enthusiasm among its own support and among working-class voters in particular, and taking votes from both Labour and especially the Conservatives, who show little sign of recovery. 'The disappointment with Labour is clear, even among those who voted for the party in 2024.' It comes after the public swing of support tp Reform was dramatically shown in the local elections, scoring victory in a Runcorn by-election on the same night. In a night of jaw-dropping results, Reform UK claimed outright majorities in Staffordshire and Lincolnshire County Councils, toppling long-standing Conservative dominance.

Telegraph

an hour ago

• Telegraph

British stealth fighter jet stranded in India for over a week

An £88 million Royal Navy fighter jet has been stranded at an airport in southern India for over a week after it ran into trouble in the Arabian Sea. A Royal Navy F-35B Lightning, the world's most advanced and expensive fighter jet, made an emergency landing on June 14. The fifth-generation stealth fighter, part of the HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group, was carrying out military drills with the Indian Navy earlier in the week. The Telegraph understands that the aircraft was unable to return to the carrier due to poor weather conditions. The pilot issued a distress signal at around 9pm local time last Saturday, triggering a full emergency protocol at Thiruvananthapuram airport, India media reported. Flight tracking data showed the US-designed aircraft landing safely half an hour later at the airport, which is Kerala's second busiest. According to Indian media reports, it then suffered a hydraulic failure. 'It was undertaking routine flying outside [the] Indian Air Defence Identification Zone with Thiruvananthapuram [airport] earmarked as the emergency recovery airfield,' India's air force said in a statement. A maintenance team from the HMS Prince of Wales later arrived, but was unable to repair the F-35B's issue. A larger team from the UK is expected to travel to Kerala to assist in the technical work. For now, the jet, which has sparked a wave of interest inside India, remains parked in the open at the airport under the protection of local Indian authorities, with British personnel overseeing its recovery. It is not yet known how long it will take until the aircraft is operational again, defence sources said. Images taken at the airport over the past week show the slick grey fighter jet parked in an isolated bay with a small number of armed guards stationed around it. Questions have been raised as to how secure the prized military asset is, after an image emerged of just one Indian soldier in a high-visibility jacket standing in front of the jet, holding a gun. However, the Royal Navy reportedly rejected Air India's offer to allocate hangar space to the aircraft due to concerns that other people could access and assess the advanced technologies on the jet. If the second attempt to repair the jet fails, defence sources told ANI news agency that plans are in place to transport the fighter back to its home base aboard a military cargo aircraft. The F-35 Lightning is Britain's frontline stealth fighter that forms part of the core offensive capabilities of the Royal Navy. The single-seat, single-engine supersonic jet is considered to have the advanced computer and networking capabilities of any aircraft in the sky, along with stealth capabilities designed to evade enemy radars. Built by American aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, the multi-role fighter has a top speed of 1,200mph – or 1.6 times the speed of sound. India's air force does not have any F-35s and instead operates French-made Rafales as well as squadrons of mainly Russian and former Soviet aircraft. The country is looking to expand its fighter fleet. The US is considering formally offering F35s to India, but the country is concerned about the model's steep cost, heavy maintenance and operational issues. The Royal Navy's Operation Highmast is an eight-month deployment led by the HMS Prince of Wales strike group and includes exercises with allies in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific regions. The carrier group's next planned port calls are Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Australia