Police officer jailed for coaching drug dealer

A POLICE officer who gave a cocaine dealer confidential information about police operations was jailed yesterday.

William Hosie, 28, admitted leaking details of investigations and withholding information from police.

He was caught after a drugs raid on Raymond Rudkin's home in May 2007. Following the raid, a police car in which he gave the dealer advice was bugged.

The former constable with Tayside Police appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday and was remanded in custody after pleading guilty to three drugs charges that amounted to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sheriff Thomas Hughes described Hosie's actions as "truly shocking" and deferred sentence for reports.

The court heard that Hosie joined the force in 1999. In 2007 colleagues became suspicious of his relationship with Rudkin, a suspected drug dealer.

The procurator-fiscal, Keith Robertson, told the court that the pair grew up together in Mid Craigie, Dundee. Rudkin was believed to be pushing drugs on the city's streets.

Police officers checked telephone records and realised that Hosie and Rudkin had been in contact. On 6 May last year, Hosie was included on a raid on Rudkin's home.

After the raid, Hosie was recorded in the bugged police car giving the suspect advice on what to say to police. Rudkin admitted to Hosie that there was cocaine hidden in the loft of his mother's Dundee home. The officer told him police did not have a warrant to search that property.

Hosie also "wilfully neglected his duty" by failing to pass on the information about the cocaine cache to his fellow officers, the court was told. Rudkin is serving a three-year prison sentence for being concerned in supplying cocaine.

In court, fiscal Keith Robertson revealed officers listening in on the conversation were shocked when they heard the dealer tell Hosie his codename was "Don Beech", the name of a corrupt detective in the TV series, The Bill.

Chief Inspector Athol Aitken, who led the inquiry, said: "The fact Mr Hosie was referred to as 'Don Beech' by his criminal associate shows how he was regarded."

Deputy Chief Constable Kevin Mathieson, said: "We will take whatever steps we need to root out and test any information about corruption within Tayside Police."