OFFICERS from Thames Valley Police's Professional Standards Department have today charged four people in connection with misconduct in a public office.

The four people were arrested in May as a result of a joint investigation by the department's operations unit and Hertfordshire Constabulary into allegations that sensitive information was leaked to the media and other parties.

Ex-Thames Valley Police officer Jonathan Mark Kearney (known as Mark), 48, from Wadworth Holme, Middleton in Milton Keynes, was charged at Banbury police station this morning. He was charged with eight offences of wilful misconduct in a public office.

Another man was charged at Aylesbury police station with five offences of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office. He is Derek Frank Webb, 53, from Springfield Crescent in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

Harry Mark Kearney, a 20-year-old from Waterbeach Barracks in Cambridgeshire, has also been charged with one count of aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring misconduct in a public office. He was also charged with possession of a Class-A drug.

A 49-year-old woman has also been charged by officers in the case at Aylesbury police station today. Sally Murrer, from Whipsnade Road, Kensworth in Bedfordshire, has been charged with three offences of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.

All four have been released on bail and will appear at Kingston-Upon-Thames Magistrates' Court on November 15.