Prison manager cleared of illegal computer searches

A senior prison manager at Wormwood Scrubs has been cleared of passing unauthorised information to a convicted criminal.

Peter Nichols, from Chertsey, Surrey, was charged with 10 counts of carrying out unauthorised computer checks on prison systems.

It was alleged that between November and December 2021 he carried out searches on behalf of ex-prisoner Gareth Casella.

Mr Nichols' wife, Jessica Nichols - who was head of security at young offender institution HMP Feltham - was also cleared of one count of carrying out an unauthorised check in November 2021.

Casella - who was sentenced to six months in prison in 2019 for dangerous driving, drug driving and resisting a constable - was also cleared of 10 counts of causing a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to data.

The computer checks were on Casella's friend, Charles Kipping, on behalf of Mr Kipping's mother who was worried her son may have gone to prison.

After several searches on the computer system, Mr Nichols located Mr Kipping in prison and passed that information to Casella.

At the time of the charges, Mr Nichols was the head of business assurance at the prison in Hammersmith, west London where he had access to software that allowed him to get information on any prisoner in England and Wales.

Mr Nichols told jurors at Southwark Crown Court that Casella went to school with his wife and he first met him around 2014.

Years later, Casella, 43, carried out work at the couple's house as a qualified electrician.

The prosecution said Mr Nichols was "clearly" aware of Casella's conviction and imprisonment.

Mr Nichols told jurors that he attended Casella's 2019 Kingston Crown Court hearing in support, and flagged a conflict of interest to his line manager stating that "I do intend to visit him" in prison.

Asked if he was concerned about breaking any prison policies, Mr Nichols had told the jury "no, absolutely not".

Mr Nichols said he did not see it as providing confidential information to a convicted criminal.

He told jurors: "I don't recognise him [Casella] as an ex-offender, he's an electrician.

"It was a welfare check, it wasn't giving out any personal information, any personal details - just to stop a mother worrying, to know her son was safe.

"I don't think that's illegal, just putting a mother's mind at rest."

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