By James Simons-
A former police sergeant has been jailed for four years after abusing his position to seek a sexually explicit video taken from a female suspect’s mobile phone, while also encouraging a toxic culture among officers under his command.
Paul Street, 41, formerly of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, was convicted of two counts of misconduct in public office following a trial at the Old Bailey. He had also pleaded guilty to two offences under the Data Protection Act 2018.
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Street was a sergeant based at Cambourne Police Station in 2021, where he led a team tasked with tackling county lines drug supply and organised crime. But the court heard that behind the serious nature of the team’s work was what prosecutors described as a deeply inappropriate culture, with Street encouraging abusive WhatsApp exchanges between officers and using inflammatory language.
The most disturbing evidence concerned the way Street treated people who had come into contact with his team.
Following the arrest and strip search of a 17-year-old detainee in April 2020, Street made derogatory comments about the teenager and encouraged the use of violence. He also recorded a video in which he threatened to damage the young person’s family home.
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Months later, Street’s conduct extended to the handling of intimate material obtained during a police investigation.
In October 2020, a woman was arrested and her mobile phone was examined by PC Josh Williams, 38, who was also serving with Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
After Williams told Street that the contents of the phone had been downloaded, Street asked whether it contained any explicit images.
Williams subsequently shared an image showing the woman in her underwear and described a sexually intimate video on the device.
Street then asked to see the explicit video, telling Williams that he wanted to “show it to the lads at footy”.
The material had no legitimate connection to the investigation, and the request represented a serious misuse of information obtained through police powers.
Williams, of Huntingdon, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office on 27 May 2025. He was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 16 months in prison.
Street’s misconduct also involved the unlawful handling of personal information held on police systems. He shared screenshots from a police computer system with his then partner. The material contained personal data relating to members of the public who had made complaints against him.
The offences ultimately brought a senior officer who had been entrusted with significant police powers before the courts and exposed serious failures in the way confidential information and vulnerable members of the public were treated.
Street was sentenced at the Old Bailey to a total of four years’ imprisonment.
The prosecution followed an investigation directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), reflecting the seriousness of allegations involving police officers and the use of powers entrusted to them.
Lisa Rose, Senior Specialist Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, said the case had revealed what she described as a “sustained pattern of unacceptable conduct” by Street.
She said Street had repeatedly crossed professional boundaries by encouraging the mistreatment of detainees and seeking access to intimate material that had no legitimate place in a criminal investigation.
“Police officers are entrusted with significant powers and are expected to uphold the highest standards at all times,” Rose said.
She added that members of the public should be able to trust that personal material obtained during an investigation would be handled lawfully and appropriately.
“The actions of Paul Street and Joshua Williams represented a serious breach of that trust,” she said.
The case underlines the breadth of responsibility attached to police powers — from the treatment of detainees in custody to the handling of highly personal material contained on seized devices.
For the woman whose intimate material was sought, the images and video were part of private information held on a phone that had come into police possession in the course of an investigation. The court heard that rather than being treated solely as potentially relevant evidence, the material became the subject of an inappropriate request between officers.
The conviction also highlights the consequences when police information is used outside its legitimate purpose. Data accessed through police systems can contain some of the most sensitive details about members of the public, including people who have made complaints or come into contact with officers in difficult circumstances.
Street’s imprisonment and Williams’s sentence bring the criminal proceedings to a conclusion, but the case raises wider questions about professional boundaries, workplace culture and the responsibility attached to confidential information.
At the heart of the prosecution was a straightforward principle: police powers and access to private information exist for legitimate policing purposes, not for personal curiosity, entertainment or the humiliation of those who come into contact with the service.
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