A FORMER PSNI constable has pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.
The 46-year-old, who cannot be named because of a reporting restriction, appeared at Belfast Crown Court on Friday to be arraigned on a total of 77 charges.
Dressed in a grey suit, he replied "guilty'' when the charge of misconduct in a public office was put to him by the court clerk.
The offence was committed on dates between January 27, 2015 and October 5, 2018.
The charge states that the ex-policeman "without reasonable excuse or justification, wilfully misconducted yourself to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the trust of the public in that you obtained, attempted to obtain and disclosed without authorisation information held on computer systems maintained by the PSNI, namely personal information relating to individuals which you were not authorised to request, receive, obtain or disclose''.
Prosecution lawyer David Russell told Judge Paul Ramsey KC: "This plea is acceptable to the Crown and reflects all matters on the indictment.''
He applied to the court for the remaining 76 offences to be "left on the books of the court in the usual terms''.
These related to 35 charges of unauthorised access to computer material, 34 offences of unlawfully obtaining/disclosing personal data and seven counts of unlawfully obtaining disclosure about computer procedures.
The charges related to accessing the PSNI's 'Niche' computer system and accessing threat messages against named individuals.
Defence counsel Frank O'Donoghue KC said the defendant was no longer in the PSNI and was in different employment now and his employers were aware of his court case.
He told Judge Ramsey that he would be seeking a number of medical reports ahead of sentencing along with a Probation Service report.
The defendant was told by the judge that he will be sentenced in June and the case will be reviewed in May.
He was released on continuing bail ahead of sentencing.