A BARRY-BASED private investigator has been given a suspended prison sentence for his part in a fraud involving the former head of South Wales CID.

Christopher Barnett, who gave his address to Bristol Crown Court as College Road, Barry, admitted one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation with the former head of South Wales CID Philip Jones, and another count of fraud.

He was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years.

Philip Jones, 63, of Bridgend, retired as Detective Chief Superintendent in 1997 after 30 years with the force and then launched a private investigation agency.

The court heard that 37-year-old Barnett, who Jones used as a freelancer, would pretend to be account holders at financial institutions, the DVLA and utility companies to gain information on case subjects.

Jones also persuaded colleague David Lloyd, 55, to pass him information from police computer systems.

Jailing Jones for 18 months on Monday, Judge Simon Darwall Smith slammed his behaviour as ‘corrupt’ and criticised his ‘lack of moral fibre’.

He said: "For a person of your age and former seniority, retiring at the rank of Detective Chief Superintendent, it saddens this court to see how you conspired with your friends David Lloyd and Barnett, because you knew they were prepared to break the law to access information.

"This lack of moral fibre on your part goes to the root of the corrupt culture existing in parts of the force.

"The public would be justifiably outraged if you didn't receive an immediate custodial sentence."

The court heard how Jones, of Aberkenfig, retired ten years ago and set up Hillside Investigations.

Lloyd retired as a Detective Constable at Bridgend police station in 2003 before he was re-employed as a civilian casework director on the force's Investigative Support Unit (ISU).

Jones began to pay Lloyd to carry out detective work in his spare time, and the court heard the pair also had an ‘agreement’ through which Lloyd would be paid to pass on information from police databases which Jones could use in his investigations.

Lloyd would use the police national computer, and search systems to perform address checks, searches for previous convictions, car registration checks and to find other information.

The agreement lasted from September 2005 to January 2008, when the men were arrested after a lengthy investigation by anti-corruption police which involved bugging their cars.

Lloyd had also been supplying police information, at the same time, to a known criminal involved in drug dealing.

When Lloyd was arrested he was found to be concealing more than £200,000 of the man's money in his attic.

Lloyd, of Penyfai, Bridgend, admitted conspiracy to commit wilful misconduct in a public office and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, in relation to the charges involving Jones.

He denied conspiracy to commit wilful misconduct in a public office and money laundering in relation to offences relating to the known criminal, but was convicted at Bristol Crown Court in February 2010.

Sentencing Lloyd to four years imprisonment, Judge Darwall-Smith said: "You were entirely brazen in helping your friend.

"The number of arrests and searches that came to nothing because you had pre-warned the suspect through your friend does not bear thinking about."

South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Nick Croft, speaking after the verdict, said: "These individuals held positions of trust and responsibility within South Wales Police.

"They abused these positions and let both the public and their colleagues down.

"The vast majority of our staff work very hard to keep South Wales safe and it is a shame that the actions of a few tarnish the professionalism of the organisation."