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A detective has described feeling traumatised after Police Scotland disclosed information from her phone to a colleague she accused of rape. Detective Constable Lianne Gilbert raised allegations of domestic abuse and serious sexual assault against another officer back in 2020. However, during a misconduct investigation two years later, it was revealed that sensitive personal data, including intimate images and medical records extracted from her phone, had been shared with the accused officer, his lawyer, and his Scottish Police Federation (SPF) representative.
Following this breach, Police Scotland was fined £66,000 by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to safeguard the private information of a victim. The ICO highlighted that the police collected a significant amount of highly sensitive data, much of which was irrelevant to the investigation. Police Scotland has since apologised and stated that it has learned from the incident. Gilbert, who has chosen to waive her anonymity, remarked to BBC Scotland News on the profound impact of the incident, especially as she had a five-month-old baby at the time. She described the experience as “absolutely horrific and very, very traumatic,” saying it has affected her journey into motherhood and left her feeling numb at times.
Gilbert first became aware of the data breach in June 2022 when she was contacted by the SPF and offered support. She expressed shock that Police Scotland had not informed her directly about the breach. She revealed that intimate images, along with contact details of her friends and family, had been handed over to the individual she accused. Reflecting on this, she said, “I felt completely violated, because my medical records and things would have been on my phone as well.” She further expressed distress at the thought that her alleged abuser might derive “sexual gratification” from those images and noted that the discs containing her data were handed to him without any secure restrictions, allowing viewing on any device.
The case remains open, with no charges yet brought against the accused officer. Gilbert, who has been diagnosed with PTSD, initially believed Police Scotland had reported the breach to the ICO. Yet she later found out that official notification to the watchdog was never made and that the force failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect irrelevant information. The investigation uncovered that Police Scotland included unredacted content in a misconduct disclosure bundle shared with an inappropriate third party and did not report the personal data breach within the legally required 72-hour window. Sally-Anne Poole, the ICO’s head of investigations, criticised the force for exposing the victim to additional harm by releasing sensitive information. Police Scotland’s Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs confirmed that the organisation is taking steps to enhance data handling procedures, improve staff training, and increase oversight to prevent a recurrence
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