An ex-cop who received confidential police information from a serving detective has been jailed for a year.

Private detective and former Met Police officer Owen Griffin, 53, from Staines, was found guilty on June 1 of four counts of procuring misconduct in a public office.

He was sentenced to 12 months' jail at Southwark Crown Court today.

Griffin was charged with receiving confidential information between April and September 2005 from then Detective Sergeant Paul Dennis, who was based in Barnet.

Dennis was found guilty of four counts of misconduct in a public office and given 15 months' jail at the same hearing.

In October 2005, Met anti-corruption officers arrested Dennis and Griffin on suspicion of being involved in corruption and misconduct in a public office, raiding three businesses and four homes.

It followed an investigation that found Griffin had paid Dennis for information from police databases.

The court heard Dennis used his position as a police officer to illicit further information from local authorities, prisons and courts.

Dennis spent large amounts of time carrying out Griffin's requests while he was on duty.

He deceived other officers and colleagues to help him with his illegal inquiries by asking them to check police computer systems on his behalf.

Met Anti-Corruption Team officers launched a surveillance operation, which recorded contact between Dennis and Griffin on several occasions, including filming a meeting between Dennis and Griffin in a restaurant car park on June 21, 2005.

In his summing up His Honour Judge Higgins said the handshake shown in the film was evidence of a corrupt relationship between the pair.