‘Details of 87 officers given to prisoners’

Personal details of up to 87 police officers have allegedly been passed to inmates in a high security prison in Northern Ireland by a jailed ex-policeman, a court has heard.

Kyle Martin Jones, 27, is accused of handing over the lists inside HMP Maghaberry, Co Antrim, during the last three months in exchange for coffee, cigarettes and food.

The former officer from Ballyclare, Co Antrim, who had been on remand in the prison on robbery charges, appeared at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court charged under the Terrorism Act with collecting information that could be used by terrorists.

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A detective told district judge Alan White that the documents contained extensive details about Jones’ former colleagues in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), including names, family relationships and vehicles they drove.

The court heard that during police interviews Jones, who served in the PSNI from 2005 to 2010, admitted compiling the lists, but insisted there was no sinister intent, and he had instead produced them for “therapeutic purposes”.

The judge acknowledged that writing was a form of therapy, but he added: “Writing about police officers does not seem to fall into that category.”

He remanded Jones in custody until the end of the month.