A 55-year-old woman who was working for the police has admitted illegally sharing confidential data.

Sharen Judith Gardner shared the information in a family Whatsapp group, while she was working in a civilian role for the Isle of Man Constabulary.

She pleaded guilty to an offence of unlawfully obtaining personal data and will be sentenced on August 15, after a probation report has been prepared.

Prosecuting advocate Sara-Jayne Dodge told the court that the offence came to light after a mobile phone was seized by police in an unrelated matter.

While data on the phone was being reviewed, a Whatsapp conversation was discovered, which Gardner was a part of.

On May 10, in the conversation, she had shared a computer screen shot of the Police Connect system.

Gardner was said to have worked as a civilian in the financial crime investigations unit since May 2023, and before that had worked in another civilian role for the police.

She had shared the screen shot and said: ‘There are intel reports.’

She was permitted access to the documents, but was not permitted to share them to third parties, and had signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Gardner was arrested on April 11 and during an interview, handed in a prepared statement admitting the offence.

Ms Dodge said that it was a serious offence, but that she felt it still fell just within the sentencing powers of the summary court.

Defence advocate Jim Travers agreed that the case should be sentenced in summary court and asked for a probation report to be prepared before sentencing.

Mr Travers said that the offence had been an unfortunate episode of somewhat casual banter, and had only been shared with three family members, none of whom would have let it go further.

The court heard that Gardner, who lives at Queen’s Terrace in Douglas, has no previous convictions.

Magistrates accepted summary court jurisdiction and granted bail in the sum of £500 with conditions for the defendant to live at her home address, and not to leave the island.