UPDATE: |Corrupt GMP cop passed intelligence to two crook associates she’d been in romantic relationships with News

Choni Kenny has been told she faces a prison sentence

A corrupt police officer passed intelligence to two crook associates she’d been in romantic relationships with. Disgraced Greater Manchester Police PC Choni Kenny has been told she faces jail.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 27-year-old, from Stockport, used her position to access databases and pass information to criminals Rahim Mottley, 27, and Josh Whelan, 31.

When she gained access to a greater level of intelligence – having joined the force’s ‘Challenger’ operation – she passed on more sensitive information.

Kenny, who joined GMP in 2020, assisted co-defendant Whelan with using prohibited mobile phones while he was in prison. She made online payments, which she later admitted were to top up the devices.

Police logs showed Kenny accessed police databases despite there being no professional reason for her to do so, including when she was in communication with Whelan.

GMP bosses found out she may have had relationships she had not disclosed and she was put under observation. She was seen going to a restaurant with Whelan following his release, before they went to his mum’s house.

Kenny was later seen driving away to start her shift at work. Officers were granted clearance to install a listening device on her car.

The court heard conversations between Kenny and friends suggested Whelan had allegedly been running a drugs line inside and outside prison. Whelan has never been charged in relation to those allegations. Prosecutor Henry Riding said there was no evidence to directly implicate him.

On February 17, 2023, Whelan was recalled to prison having been released on licence. In a conversation with a friend on February 24, Kenny spoke about him, saying he had had a ‘full recall’.

Kenny referred to Whelan and another man, named only as ‘Darren’, saying: “He’s [Whelan] just back on top with everything, gets recalled and then Darren’s now moaning about running the line. I would do a better job running that line.”

During that period, Kenny had also been passing information to Mottley. She also had a romantic relationship with him.

Kenny shared highly-sensitive operational information with Mottley, including addresses and reasons for upcoming warrants. The court heard on one occasion, she passed information to Mottley before a firearms warrant due to be carried out was blown.

Mitigating for Kenny, David James said: “She is well aware of what she has done for the reputation of the police, and she will be punished for it. She has known her co-defendants from at least secondary school. There’s no suggestion she was involved with them before.”

Kenny, of Tennyson Road, Cheadle, previously pleaded guilty to four counts of misconduct in public office; and one of conspiracy to commit misconduct with Mottley. All the offences were between April 1, 2021 and June 22, 2023.

Earlier this year, Kenny admitted to failing to tell GMP about her relationship with Whelan; funding the use of mobile phones by him and communicating with him; and accessing police information and intelligence and disclosing it to him.

She also admitted misconduct involving failing to notify GMP about her relationship with criminal associate Mottley. They both admitted a count of conspiring together to commit misconduct, involving accessing and disclosing police intelligence and information.

Kenny denied encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence involving Whelan and mobile phones and unauthorised access to a GMP computer. Those charges were left to lie on the file.

Whelan, 31, of no fixed address, previously pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a total off 20 mobile phones in Risley, Forest Bank and Berwyn prisons.

Judge Neil Flewitt KC adjourned sentencing to this afternoon (April 23). The judge previously told Kenny she should expect an immediate custodial sentence.