A police sergeant who suffered injuries while courageously serving on duty led a double life, enjoying holidays and race days alongside criminals using the EncroChat network.
Temporary Sergeant Daniel Hughes, 40, a two-decade veteran of the force, was regarded as a committed officer who sustained serious injuries during two vicious attacks while working for Merseyside Police.
Yet Hughes neglected to declare his long-term connections with several individuals involved in serious organised crime who used the encrypted EncroChat system. Not only did Hughes mix socially with criminal associates, taking holidays and attending race meetings with them, he also accessed intelligence reports concerning them.
Nevertheless, it was established that Hughes hadn’t directly passed on the contents of the restricted files to his criminal contacts nor made any financial gain from his searches. However, it emerged he had shared snippets of information regarding other ongoing cases in a WhatsApp group conversation.
A crown court judge said to Hughes: “You were a diligent, industrious police officer who displayed courage in the line of duty…[but] you continued inappropriate relationships with a number of people involved in criminality.
View 5 ImagesPhillip Lam(Image: Merseyside Police)
“It is not an offence and you were not charged with misconduct in a public office, but your personal life put you in a position where conflict could arise and it must have been apparent to you that socialising and going on holiday with such people was wrong.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Laura Barbour, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court that Hughes exploited systems, including the police national computer (PNC) and Merseyside Police’s own database, Niche, to conduct repeated unauthorised searches on several individuals.
The court was told that between 2016 and 2021 he ran checks on people including Steven Noone, Phillip Lam, Anthony Harrison and Frederick Connolly.
Ms Barbour stated Hughes accessed intelligence reports concerning Noone, who was at the time under investigation as part of a large-scale fraud operation involving stolen credit cards being used to pay for fancy holidays and hotels.
Hughes also viewed an intelligence log relating to an inquiry into Noone laundering a cannabis farm and searched details of the criminal’s partner and her family members. The court additionally heard Hughes contacted an associate in a WhatsApp group chat, who was a senior Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutor, asking “guess how much Noone’s [proceeds of crime] confiscation is”, before revealing “just over a mill”.
In addition, Hughes conducted searches for Lam’s profile at the same time as Noone’s. Lam was implicated in the credit card fraud alongside Noone before police eventually established he was also the individual operating under the EncroChat handle “WearyDog”, through which he trafficked vast quantities of drugs.
View 5 ImagesSteven Noone, 38, was jailed for four years and nine months for his part in the conspiracy(Image: Merseyside Police)
The court was told Hughes also regularly checked the police profile of Harrison, who was eventually identified as the individual behind the “WalkTheDog” EncroChat handle. Ms Barbour confirmed that evidence which helped link the handle to Harrison, later found guilty of money laundering and drug dealing, was retrieved from Hughes’ phone when he was arrested.
Hughes also conducted searches on Connolly, who operated under the handle “MadeiraBlue”. The ECHO has previously reported that large-scale drug dealer Connolly and Harrison were friends who had been photographed on holiday together in the south of France.
The court was told Hughes performed a lawful search of a property owned by a suspect whose partner worked for the CPS as part of his duties. However, following the search he posted in a WhatsApp group chat, which included the same CPS prosecutor mentioned earlier, that their lifestyle and property “oozed money”.
The suspect was never convicted of any offence.
The court also heard Hughes accessed files relating to a man called Anthony O’Reilly and viewed intelligence reports indicating he was involved in supplying multi-kilo quantities of cannabis. Ms Barbour said Hughes sent a message to his group stating “that Tony in the gym said he’s gonna get me some delivery work”.
The prosecutor said this message was understood to be “sent in jest”, but when his friend clarified who was being discussed, Hughes responded “he’s the main weed dealer in Liverpool, kilos only”. Ms Barbour described his behaviour as “snooping”, which resulted in “gossipy” exchanges with friends and acquaintances, though there was no indication he made any financial gain from the information he accessed.
View 5 ImagesDaniel Hughes walks free from court(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Hughes was initially detained in March 2022 in connection with a separate matter, which sparked an investigation. After his arrest, his mobile phone revealed his links to the criminals.
However, the court was told that even after being taken into custody, he continued to send messages about social activities including “trips to the races”.
Hughes, of Armstrong Quay in Dingle, was found guilty by a jury of eight counts of unauthorised access to computer material and three counts of disclosing personal data without the consent of the data controller. The same jury cleared him of dozens of additional charges.
He had been suspended by Merseyside Police after his arrest and was dismissed following his conviction last month at a misconduct hearing which he refused to attend.
In mitigation, Chloe Fordham, defending, told the court: “He did socialise with the people the police were investigating, but there is no evidence of him supporting these people…these people were on the periphery of his social life and he would say that was unavoidable.
“The defendant was an extremely dedicated police officer who served since 2006 when he was 20. Although his autism did raise some eyebrows there was a huge amount of feedback about the diligence he approached intelligence tasks.”
View 5 ImagesAnthony Harrison, aka ‘Tosh’, who was jailed after being unmasked as EncroChat money launderer and drug dealer ‘Walkthedog'(Image: Merseyide Police)
The court was told the defendant sustained injuries on two occasions while on duty, including being stabbed in 2016. Ms Fordham revealed he was also “seriously assaulted with a broken bottle” in 2019.
“Some people would have taken more time off sick, taken the state’s dollar, but he did not,” she added. Hughes was determined to have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his injuries.
Ms Fordham continued: “He has obtained pride [being a police officer], it was a huge part of his identity and self-worth. If the court is thinking of a deterrent sentence then it is vital to say a huge deterrent is the loss of employment, at least some of his pension, and the criminal investigation and conviction.”
Hughes’ counsel said the loss of employment had been made worse by his autism and PTSD because “he has been very down-hearted”, adding: “Those factors would also make any custodial sentence very difficult”. The court heard that since his arrest he had secured agency work as a delivery driver and had the offer of full-time employment.
Ms Fordham said: “This man, serious as the offences are, is the candidate that should be considered for a non-custodial sentence. He won’t be bothering these courts again.”
During sentencing, Judge Alan Conrad KC acknowledged that Hughes had not committed the offences for financial benefit or to assist criminals. However, he stated: “You became far too close to these people.”
The judge, however, described Hughes’ conduct as “snooping”, while stressing: “But that is still a serious offence. It was persistent over a considerable period of time.”
He went on to add: “What you did tends to undermine public confidence in the police and their systems. Public confidence and trust in the police demands that police officers do not access material that is beyond their remit or disclose personal information.”
Hughes received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with 10 rehabilitation days, 250 hours of unpaid work, and a £750 fine.
Hughes, dressed in a grey blazer and tie with dark hair and a trimmed beard, had an associate by his side in court. When the ECHO approached Hughes as he made his way through Manchester city centre, his associate responded with “no comment, mate” and repeatedly stepped in to block their path.
Following the sentencing, Olivia Travis from the Crown Prosecution Service’s Mersey-Cheshire complex casework unit commented: “Daniel Hughes was a corrupt police officer who abused his position to access sensitive information.”
She continued: “He maintained longstanding relationships with offenders involved in drugs and firearms, which he deliberately concealed despite a clear duty to declare them. Hughes received training on the proper handling of police information but chose to ignore it.
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“His actions demonstrated a complete disregard for the trust placed in him and for the integrity of the criminal justice system. The jury has rejected his account that he was acting in the course of his duties. He has now been held accountable for his criminal conduct.”