The kiss that sealed corrupt police officer's fate

Footage of a Greater Manchester Police constable kissing a prisoner while in her uniform helped seal a conviction that landed her behind bars.

An anti-corruption investigation found Choni Kenny, 27, had passed information to two criminals she had romantic relationships with.

Drug-dealer Josh Whelan was serving a sentence at HMP Forest Bank in Manchester, when CCTV showed her embracing him in a visitation area.

Kenny, who had served in the force since 2020, was jailed for three years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.

The court heard she had a "casual sexual relationship" with Whelan, described by Judge Neil Flewitt KC as a "committed criminal", and a "physical but casual" relationship with former schoolmate Rahim Mottley after breaking up with Whelan.

Whelan, 31, was in possession of 20 different mobile phones while serving time in prison between 2021 and 2023 and their use was funded by Kenny, the court was told.

Judge Flewitt said it was an "aggravating feature" that it was clear from conversations Kenny knew Whelan was a drug dealer.

"You were helping him to supervise that operation from prison," he added.

The court heard Kenny accessed police information and intelligence which she shared with Whelan, including a victim statement taken when he was accused of violence against a former partner.

In November 2022, when Whelan was released from prison, Kenny was seen with him in her BMW and went to a Nando's restaurant with him, before going to work where she searched for details of prisoners released that week.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said Kenny and Whelan split up not long after his release and Kenny then started a "physical" but "casual" relationship with Mottley.

Mottley had previously been arrested in February of the same year as part of a police operation into aggravated burglary and released under investigation.

He tasked Kenny to keep him up to date with police intelligence, which she did by accessing and passing on confidential information.

She told him about a planned police firearms raid and promised to find out who the "local grasses" were before attending a course about handling police informants, the court heard.

Judge Flewitt told Kenny: "You have let down not only GMP and the community it serves but also yourself, your family and your friends."

He said: "Your actions were not motivated by a desire for a financial or other advantage or borne out of any malice.

"They were a consequence of your naivety, immaturity and wish to maintain the friendship of Josh Whelan and Rahim Mottley."

Kenny, of Tennyson Road in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, admitted four counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office at an earlier hearing.

Kenny was formally dismissed from the force at an accelerated misconduct hearing on 1 April after pleading guilty.

GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson described Kenny's behaviour as "simply unacceptable".

"Her accessing and sharing police data with active criminals is a tangible manifestation of a distinct lack of integrity, decency and moral fibre which additionally point to her being manifestly unsuited to the office of constable," he said.

Mottley, 28, was arrested in Spain, where some of his family lived and Kenny had spent time with him, and was extradited to the UK in October 2024 to face justice.

He was sentenced to two years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Whelan, of Purley Avenue in Wythenshawe, Manchester, was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting three counts of possessing a specified item in prison, possession of a bladed article, racially aggravated assault, threatening behaviour and a bail offence.

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