PSNI employee is charged with fraud by abuse of position
A PSNI employee has been charged with fraud involving £500 in connection with the police's Universal Offer Scheme which was established to assist staff affected by a data breach.
Thomas Cochrane (44), with an address listed as PSNI headquarters, is charged in relation to between April 29 in 2024 and January 29 this year. The single charge is 'fraud by abuse of position'.
It is alleged that 'whilst occupying a position in which you were expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of your employer, dishonestly abused that position in that having applied for and received £500 under the PSNI Universal Offer Scheme for reimbursement of money you purported to have paid out for security equipment, in fact you had cancelled the said equipment order and received a refund for same on 17th April 2024 and did not declare this to your employer, with the intention, by means of the abuse of that position to make a gain for yourself or another or to cause loss to your employer or to expose your employer to a risk of a loss, in breach of section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006, contrary to Section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006'.
The accused was not present when the case was mentioned at Ballymena Magistrates Court. The case was adjourned to September 18.
The police brought in the Universal Offer Scheme, offering £500 to officers and staff affected by a data breach in 2023.
The scheme was for staff to take steps regarding their security following the data error.