‘disgraceful’ | 

Corrupt police worker who tipped off crims ‘betrayed her job, her colleagues and the public’

‘Once we knew there was a leak we worked urgently to find out who it was’

Yesterday at 16:03

A woman working for Cheshire Police who tipped off a wanted criminal friend about a massive, secret investigation into serious and organised crime “betrayed her job, her colleagues and the public she was paid to protect” investigators have said.

Natalie Mottram (24) from Warrington will have to “face the consequences for the rest of her life” after she admitted to misconduct in public office, perverting the course of justice and unauthorised access to computer material at Liverpool Crown Court today.

She will return to court on November 3 to be sentenced along with her criminal pal Jonathan Kay (38) who also admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.

Mottram was working as an intelligence analyst at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) when she was arrested by National Crime Agency officers on June 12, 2020.

She was arrested as part of Operation Venetic, the NCA-led UK response to the takedown of the encrypted communications platform EncroChat favoured by criminals.

An investigation was launched soon after Operation Venetic began when authorities became suspicious that there had been a leak.

It emerged that Mottram not only told Key about the covert investigation, she also warned him that officers had intelligence on him too.

The drama unfolded on April 24, 2020, when a friend of Kay’s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told other EncroChat users that he had learned that day about law enforcement infiltrating the platform.

He had messaged a second contact: “I no [sic] a lady who works for the police. This is not hearsay. Direct to me. They can access Encro software. And are using to intercept forearms [sic] only at the moment. There [sic] software runs 48 hours behind real time. So have ur burns one day max. And try to avoid giving postcodes over it.”

The ‘Burns’ reference is to the to the delete-time function on messages.

He added: “Her words was are you on Encro, I said no why, I only sell a bit of bud. She said cool just giving you heads up. Because NCA now have access. But she wouldn’t lie.”

It didn’t take long for NCA investigators to suspect Mottram was responsible for the leak and on June 12, 2020, bosses asked her to analyse an intelligence log referring to Kay who was the partner of Mottram’s close friend Leah Bennett (38)

Little did Mottram know the log was bogus and she was under surveillance.

Investigators watched as Mottram left work that afternoon and drove to Kay and Bennett’s house on Newark Drive, Great Sankey, Warrington. The three, who had met a few years before had grown close over a shared love of gym exercise. She had her own key to Kay and Bennett’s house and let herself in.

At 5.15pm Kay – who has convictions for driving offences and being drunk and disorderly – arrived home in his car. When Bennett arrived seven minutes later in hers, the prosecution say is when Mottram corruptly informed Kay and Bennett about the intelligence log concerning him.

Just 11 minute later, at 5.26pm, telecommunications data shows that Bennett’s phone contacted another belonging to the partner of the man who cannot be named, which was the first time these devices had communicated in two years.

It is believed the call was made to set up a meeting because shortly after Kay and the man met at a supermarket car park.

They talked for 20 minutes while walking around before returning to their vehicles and leaving.

Shortly after, police moved in and Mottram, Kay, Bennett and the man were all arrested while £200,000 in cash was recovered from Kay and Bennett’s house.

NCA investigators, using a variety of records such as cell site analysis and phone data to check where the suspects were and when, established that on April 21 Mottram and Kay were together at his house for nearly two hours. And that evening Kay and the unnamed man spoke on the phone.

A few days’ later, Mottram was again with Kay and Bennett at their home, on April 24. Her computer records reveal she was working on Operation Venetic from their address. Kay and the man spoke again on the phone later that day.

The NCA say that Mottram, of Vermont Close, Great Sankey, Warrington had clearly betrayed information about the secret Operation Venetic investigation.

Today, at Liverpool Crown Court, Mottram admitted misconduct in public office, perverting the course of justice and unauthorised access to computer material.

She will return to court on 3 November to be sentenced along with Kay who admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.

A charge of perverting the course of justice against Bennett lies on file and will be dropped when Mottram and Kay are sentenced.

John McKeon, head of the NCA’s anti-corruption unit, said: “Natalie Mottram betrayed her job, her colleagues and the public she was paid to protect.

“Her corrupt actions had the potential to hugely damage the overarching investigation by alerting offenders of the need to abandon EncroChat and cover their tracks.

“Operation Venetic was the deepest and broadest operation against organised crime the UK has ever seen, and has taken huge numbers of dangerous offenders off the streets. But Mottram clearly didn’t care about that. Her actions were disgraceful.

“Once we knew there was a leak we worked urgently to find out who it was.

“With the North West ROCU and Cheshire Police, once we suspected Mottram, we created a trap for her and she immediately walked into it.

“The evidence against her was overwhelming. She was left with no option but to finally plead guilty.”

Assistant Chief Constable Jo Edwards, head of the North West ROCU, said: “As part of this extensive investigation with the NCA’s anti-corruption unit and Cheshire Police, overwhelming evidence was obtained against Natalie Mottram, exposing her criminal actions. She had no other choice but to admit her wrongdoings at court.

“There is no place in policing for those who are corrupt, seeking to use their position for criminal purposes. Here at the NWROCU we expect our officers and staff to uphold the highest standards of professional behaviour, to maintain the trust and confidence of the communities we serve.

“Natalie’s actions fell far below the standards and values we expect. She has failed in her public duty, letting down her colleagues and the communities that we serve. Her actions were criminal, and she will now have to face the consequences for the rest of her life.

“Each and every day, our staff at the NWROCU serve our communities with the utmost integrity and honesty, but sadly the actions of Natalie Mottram have undermined the fantastic work we do on a daily basis.”

Detective Superintendent Helena Banusic, Head of Professional Standards at Cheshire Constabulary, said: “I welcome the guilty pleas entered by Mottram and I hope that her conviction provides reassurance to our communities.

“Mottram abused her position by accessing highly sensitive data which she then shared with people outside the organisation.

“Thankfully, as a result of the partnership work between Cheshire Constabulary, the NCA and the IoPC she has now been held accountable for her actions.

“As this case demonstrates nobody is above the law, and I want to reassure the public that we are committed to doing all we can to root out any officers or staff who fail to meet the high standards that the people of Cheshire expect and deserve.”

The NCA inquiry was part of an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IoPC) directed investigation.

Mottram started work at Cheshire Police in August 2017 as an apprentice before being seconded to the NW ROCU as an intelligence researcher in May 2018.

Soon after all employees were sent a standard reminder never to search corporate systems for their own purposes. Mottram acknowledged the warning.

By 2020, her role was to conduct threat assessments of OCGs. She was briefed on the details of Operation Venetic and was advised about not widely discussing details of the sensitive operation.

As well as the crimes she has admitted, the evidence against her revealed she bought cannabis from a dealer whose phone number was saved in her mobile phone; had told Bennett about a murder file she had seen on her boss’s desk. And she also took selfies with her work computer visible and showing a document classified as ‘Official Sensitive’ meaning it required certain handling conditions.

So far under Operation Venetic, more than 1,100 offenders have been convicted.

There are many more suspects in the legal and judicial systems. In total, more than 3,000 arrests have been made across UK law enforcement and more than 2,000 suspects charged. So far more than 7,322 years of sentences have been given to UK offenders.

Drugs seizures include nearly six-and-a-half tonnes of cocaine, more than three tonnes of heroin and almost fourteen-and-a-half tonnes of cannabis.

One hundred-and-seventy-three firearms have been taken off UK streets along with almost 3,500 rounds of ammunition and more than £80m has been seized from organised crime groups.

These figures represent the collective efforts of the NCA, UK police forces, Regional Organised Crime Units, Border Force, HM Revenue and Customs and crucially the Crown Prosecution Service.

The man who cannot be named for legal reasons was previously summoned to appear at court where he was due to be charged with perverting the course of justice. He failed to attend.