Former police officer from Worlingham sentenced for sharing arrests and bodycam footage with WhatsApp group

A former police officer who shared details of arrests and bodycam footage to a WhatsApp group has been sentenced.

Charlotte Nelson, 25, of Cedar Drive, Worlingham, near Beccles, filmed footage of her bodycam using her mobile phone of a vulnerable young adult being restrained in hospital in Lowestoft before sharing it publicly in January 2022.

She was a police constable between January 2022 and October 2023 before resigning from the force in September last year.

In total, Nelson pleaded guilty to three offences and was today sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

These were:

► Knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without consent of controller on 10 occasions between 20 January 2022 and 3 October 2023

► Holder of a public office wilfully neglected to perform duty/wilfully misconducted herself between 26 January 2022 and 27 January 2022

► Cause a computer to perform function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data between 8 April 2022 and 31 May 2022

Earlier this year, a police conduct hearing barred Nelson from serving again, the court was told.

It also found that, if she was still in the force, she would have been dismissed.

In addition to her sentence, Nelson was handed a 25 hour rehabilitation order and will have to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

DCC Rob Jones said: “I recognize how much it undermines public confidence in policing when someone abuses the trust placed in them as a police officer in this way.

“Suffolk Police take great care with people’s personal information and pride in the standards we uphold in serving the public.

“Charlotte Nelson is barred from ever serving as a police officer again.”