A CORRUPT female police officer who alerted a friend that officers had infiltrated their phone network has been sentenced to prison.

Natalie Mottram, 25, from Warrington, also purchased cannabis from a dealer while employed by a specialized police unit and took selfies at work displaying restricted documents.

She was apprehended when the police suspected her involvement in a security breach and placed her under surveillance.

The police officer, who was stationed with the North West Regional Crime Unit and had access to sensitive police intelligence, was discovered to have informed criminals that the police had “access” to the EncroChat network, a system that enables encrypted communication.

When the police successfully penetrated the encrypted phone network in April 2020, Mottram alerted her friend Jonathan Kay that they were closing in. A friend of Kay’s, whose identity cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, messaged another EncroChat user to convey that he had learned on that day that the police had hacked the network.