Suspended sentence for council worker who illegally accessed data

Employee at Herefordshire Council unlawfully accessed hundreds of personal records relating to family members and people known to him. 

An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has led to a council worker being given a year-long suspended sentence for unlawfully accessing hundreds of personal records. 

Geoffrey Smith, who is 31 and from Ledbury in Herefordshire, was a relatively new employee working in the Children and Young People directorate at Herefordshire Council. While there, concerns were raised within the council about potential unauthorised access to a referral case. This prompted further investigation into other records Mr Smith might have accessed.  

As a result of this investigation, it turns out that Mr Smith unlawfully accessed some 490 records and downloaded 94 documents over a period of four days. The records related to his own family members and families known to him, including both adults and children. The records he accessed involved highly sensitive personal material such as medical records, social worker reports and child and family assessments.  

On May 27, 2026, Mr Smith pleaded guilty to the unlawful accessing of personal data held on computers – which is an offence under section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. After a hearing on July 17 at Worcester magistrates’ court, he was sentenced to two months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, as well as 120 hours unpaid work, £2,000 costs plus a victim surcharge of £154.  

Andy Curry, Head of Investigations at the ICO, says: ‘Smith abused his position as an employee and used his access to Herefordshire Council’s systems to view the personal information of people known to him, without any legitimate reason to do so.  

‘The sensitive nature of the records held within a Children and Young People directorate, and Smith’s systematic misuse of that information, makes this particularly serious. People have a right to expect that their personal information is kept safe, and that those with access to it will only use it for the purposes for which it was intended.  

‘We will always take action to protect the public from those who misuse their access to sensitive information.’ 

Photo by charlesdeluvio / Unsplash

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