Met Officer Who Leaked Police Data to Journalist Walks Free from Court

A 26-year-old Met officer accessed confidential police systems to pass sensitive briefings to an online journalist and a former cop. The court called it serious. The sentence was suspended.

A serving Metropolitan Police officer who leaked confidential information to a freelance journalist and a former police whistleblower has avoided jail despite what the judge called "deliberate" and "planned" misconduct.

PC Matthew Olive, 26, from Southend-On-Sea, Essex, pleaded guilty to four counts of misconduct in a public office after accessing two restricted police databases and sharing sensitive materials with online journalist Rebecca Tidy and ex-officer Faye Osmund-Smith.

Olive, who has since left the Met and now works as a train dispatcher for Greater Anglia, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to nine months imprisonment, suspended for two years. He must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work, attend up to 15 rehabilitation days, and pay £1,600 in costs.

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An Officer, a Journalist, and a Leaking Account

The misconduct began while Olive was still a serving police constable. He used his authorised access to search the Case Overview and Preparation Application (COPA) and the Forensic Imagery Management System (FIMS). These databases are designed to assist officers in preparing cases and identifying suspects. But Olive used them to gather material for people outside the force.

Prosecutor Dickon Reid explained: “The four charges arise out of Mr Olive making unauthorised searches on police databases whilst he was a serving officer, and thereafter sharing information with members of the public, including one online journalist.”

Olive shared CCTV stills and suspect briefings from the FIMS system with Tidy and, on a separate occasion, with Osmund-Smith. He even advised Tidy how he would try to justify his actions, telling her he had to be "very sly" to make the unauthorised search seem legitimate.

In one WhatsApp exchange, Olive pulled data from COPA on a man named Jayden Chirewa after Tidy claimed she was writing about his arrest. When asked to look into another case, Olive offered to check the Police National Computer (PNC), suggesting that if she emailed him about it, he could fabricate a reason to perform the search.

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“Ms Tidy responded that it would be good if he could ‘peak at the PNC’ for her,” Reid told the court. “Olive offered to take pictures or pass on information as he was 'bored and wanted to cause mischief.'”

The whistleblowing trail led investigators to Olive through a pseudonymous X (formerly Twitter) account: @DCEA2000. The account, widely suspected of leaking internal police communications, was reported by other users, who noticed it was providing screenshots from the Met's intranet to journalists.

After Olive’s arrest in September 2023, a forensic examination of his phone revealed hundreds of messages exchanged with both Tidy and Osmund-Smith. The conversations dated back to December 2022, well before the misconduct charges officially began in May 2023.

The Judge Calls It Serious. The Sentence Is Suspended.

Despite the judge's stern tone, Olive avoided immediate custody. Judge Usha Karu told him:

“These are extremely serious offences: the culpability is high because these were deliberate acts which were planned. They are aggravated by the trusted position you held within the police, you were well-aware of the sensitivity around information to which you had access. Offending of this type plainly crosses the custodial threshold.”

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But the judge acknowledged what she called "exceptional circumstances" — namely, Olive's claim that he was bullied within the Met. That, combined with his 'vulnerability' and supposed susceptibility to online flattery, swayed the court toward a suspended sentence.

Defence barrister Luke Ponte described Olive as an "unusual example of offender" in an "unusual case" of misconduct. He claimed Olive was "susceptible to flattery" and had been drawn into "a community of people who did not think highly of the Metropolitan Police."

In a written response provided to police before his second interview, Olive described the leaked messages as being "in the realm of fantasy" and admitted he hadn’t appreciated their seriousness.

Judge Karu reminded him, however, that a suspended sentence is not a let-off: "This is not a soft option Mr Olive, this will be hanging over your head for two years."

Damage to Trust and Integrity

Speaking after Olive’s guilty plea in March, Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Smithson, who leads the Met’s Professional Standards Directorate, was unequivocal:

“PC Olive abused his position, searching confidential police systems to look up information for no other purpose than to satisfy his own interests and those who he passed information on to.

“His colleagues, and the public, rightly expect those who are trusted to access sensitive information to do so only for legitimate policing reasons.

“By misusing his privileged position, he will have done further damage to the trust between the police and the public that we are collectively working so hard to rebuild."

The Met has made it clear that breaches of database integrity are a red line. Yet the decision to suspend Olive’s sentence will inevitably raise eyebrows among frontline officers and the public alike, especially in light of repeated assurances that trust and accountability are top priorities.

In the premium subscriber chat, we’re asking a difficult question: What should happen when journalists actively encourage police officers to leak confidential information?

It’s not about the people named in this story, it’s about the bigger picture. Where do we draw the ethical line in journalism? What’s public interest, and what’s just reckless?

If you’ve got views, experience, or questions about how we balance press freedom with policing integrity then this is the conversation for you!

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