A former North Yorkshire Police officer has been convicted of accessing computer data without authorisation.
Simon Barker, 36, from Leeds, was an officer at North Yorkshire Police from 2018 until 2024.
He pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates Court, and on 30 October 2025, he was sentenced to four months’ custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay a £154 surcharge, and £85 costs.
In December 2024, he was found to have committed gross misconduct in relation to another matter. He was barred from policing – and had he not already resigned, he would have been dismissed as a result.
Further enquiries into his conduct as a police officer revealed that he had made numerous searches on an internal computer system, without any policing purpose. Investigators found Barker had a personal relationship with, and links to, the individuals he searched for.
Barker was arrested and subsequently charged with gaining unauthorised access to data, an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Deputy Chief Constable Scott Bisset, of North Yorkshire Police, said:
North Yorkshire Police are very clear on the standards expected of all officers and staff with access to police information, and we have rigorous systems in place to audit this access.
Members of the public rightly expect the police to treat the sensitive information we hold with the utmost care and integrity. The vast majority of our officers and staff do so with the highest levels of professionalism. Barker, however, abused the trust placed in him, and now has a criminal record as a result.
