A serving police officer, currently suspended from duty over allegations of 'Misconduct in Public Office', "would lose his job if convicted", his solicitor has admitted.
The officer was charged with a single offence on dates between September 19, 2019, and December 18, 2020.
During a brief mention of the case against PSNI Constable William Mallett, his defence solicitor told Lisburn Magistrates Court there was still no legal aid in place so he was still "trying to sort out funding".
"He is a serving police officer, still employed, albeit he is suspended lending these matters," he told District Judge Rosie Watters, "but I would say that, if convicted, he would lose his job."
Mallett, with an address given as c/o Lisburn PSNI station, is on bail, charged with a single offence of misconduct in public office in that on dates between September 19, 2019, and December 18, 2020 "you willfully misconducted yourself to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in you".
The particulars of the offence allege that, in order to gain sexual thrills, Mallett "accessed certain occurrences and other such records on the police computer system, which were linked to incidents of a sexual nature, including those variously reported as rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child sexual exploitation, child abuse and harassment of a pedophile, for your own benefit or sexual satisfaction, without reasonable excuse or justification, knowing that it was wrong for you to access such occurrences and other such records."
District Judge Rosie Watters adjourned the case for two weeks. The solicitor, regarding funding, told the judge: "I will put pressure [on] that I need a decision."
With many thanks to the: Sunday Life and Paul Higgins for the original publication.
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