LONDON, March 28 (UPI) -- A former police officer was sentenced to 10 months in prison Wednesday and a former prison officer 16 months for selling information to a British tabloid.
Alan Tierney, who was a constable with the Surrey Police in the suburbs south of London, and Richard Trunkfield, who worked at the high-security prison in Milton Keynes, were targets of Operation Elveden, the London police investigation into payments made to public employees in exchange for news, The Guardian reported. Both pleaded guilty this month to taking money from The Sun, a tabloid that is part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
"It is wholly against the public interest for those who hold public office cynically to profit out of the misery or unfortunate circumstances of those for whom they are responsible," the judge, Mr. Justice Adrian Fulford, said during Wednesday's hearing in the Old Bailey.
Tierney gave The Sun details about the arrest of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and shoplifting charges against the mother and mother-in-law of John Terry, former captain of the English soccer team.
Trunkfield supplied information about Jon Venables, who was convicted with Robert Thompson of killing 2-year-old James Bulger when he was 10.
The Metropolitan Police have arrested 107 people since launching Operation Elveden, most of them news employees. Tierney and Trunkfield are the first to plead guilty.
