^{Pick your role models wisely.}

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A paralegal has pleaded guilty to funnelling information to criminal gangs while she was working for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Rachel Simpson provided pioneering assistance to a community traditionally treated harshly by her employer, but her aid was frowned upon by South Wales Police's anti-corruption unit, which arrested her in 2020. 

Material found on encrypted mobile phones seized from other wrongdoers led officers to the 39-year-old paralegal assistant, who admitted accessing sensitive material and on two occasions passing it to organised criminals.

Simpson's application for bail in advance of her sentencing so she could look after her teenage daughter was rejected by Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, who remanded her to custody and warned Simpson she would be handing down an "immediate and significant prison sentence".

Andrew Penhale, chief crown prosecutor, said, "As a CPS employee Rachel Simpson was in a position of trust and was only expected to access sensitive and confidential information when necessary for her job".

Whereas she not only "regularly accessed material when there was no business need", but gave it to wrong 'uns, which is definitely not allowed.

"The CPS expects all staff to act with integrity in handling data held in its systems and Simpson fell well below these standards", said Penhale, adding that, "We also constantly review our digital systems to ensure they are as secure as possible", which doesn't appear to be quite secure enough.

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