A JUDGE called for random drug-testing of gardai today as a corrupt ex-cop was jailed for 18 months for passing information from the force’s Pulse data system to criminals.

Jimell Henry, 36, “put investigations and lives at risk” when she provided secrets to two well-known criminals nicknamed Pharmacy and Child, a court heard.

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It was told Henry had a serious drug addiction and had been pressured into supplying her dealers with the information.

Jailing her for three years with the final 18 months suspended, Judge Keenan Johnson said what was passed on about the movements of a particular individual could have potentially lead to his death.

He told Sligo Circuit Court: “Not alone did the accused as an acting member of An Garda Siochana break the law, but by releasing sensitive information from the Pulse system to members of the criminal fraternity, she put the lives of members of the public at risk.

“The offences undermine public confidence in the gardai and mark a serious betrayal of trust by the accused not only to herself, but to her colleagues in an Garda Siochana, her family and most importantly the community at large.

“I am satisfied that the disclosure offences are very serious matters and are arguably as serious as possible other than violent offences for a garda to commit in the course of their duty.”

The judge said the public had a “right” to expect gardai to be “beyond reproach” in their duties.

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Henry, whose father and grandfather were respected gardai, had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of disclosing information obtained during her duties as a garda in Dublin, knowing that the disclosure was likely to have a harmful effect on dates between December 16 2014 and January 14 2015.

She also pleaded guilty to four charges of disclosing operational details without proper authority on dates between December 16 2014 and January 15 2015 at an earlier sitting of Sligo District Court.

She pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine at Tullynagracken North, Cairns Hill, Sligo, on January 16th, 2015.

She further admitted two charges of forging prescriptions for medication and two charges of giving false information to obtain prescribed medication from chemists between February 3 2016 and April 20 2016.

Henry was caught after after a “complex multi-disciplinary” investigation was launched and it was found she had made 980 queries in a two-week period.

73 per cent of those were about Sligo on the Pulse system and contact details for both criminals had been found on her ‘gouger” phone.