Wife of child abuser avoids prison for looking up victims’ social care records
The wife of a man who was jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing children in a care home has avoided prison for looking up social care records of his victims.
Helen Logins “could not resist the temptation” of looking up files of those abused by husband Andris Logins, who was convicted in March of four rapes and ten indecent assaults at the Beechwood Care Home, Nottingham, in the early 1980s.
The former Nottingham council manager, 52, admitted six offences under the Computer Misuse Act and was given a 12 month suspended sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday afternoon.
The court heard Logins accessed the social care files of her partner’s victims on at least seven occasions over a year and that when the victims were told about the crime they were “extremely anguished and distressed”.
Prosecuting, Mary Prior said: “They were concerned that they were being spied upon.
“Helen Logins (pictured) abused her position of trust within the organisation by accessing the social care files of some of the complainants more than once and seeing the most intensely personal information.”
Logins was a senior manager at Nottingham City Council and the court heard she “must have been given” the names of the victims by her husband after he was arrested.
Mrs Prior said: “There were times two of the victims considered not proceeding to the case (against Mr Logins – pictured, right) to trial”, adding that the disclosure did “contribute towards this”.
The records included current addresses and details relating to family members, the court heard.
Logins, of Stiles Road, Arnold, was dismissed from her position at Nottingham City Council in June last year and admitted the charges at a previous hearing.
Mitigating, Sarah Knight said: “She made a gross error of judgment in breaching the trust that had been placed upon her.
“Had she thought rationally, she would never have done what she did.”
Adding that Logins was “unwittingly caught up” in her husband’s offending, Miss Knight said: “Knowing that her husband was being investigated was, for her, a living nightmare.
“She panicked, she did access the documents.”
The court heard she did not pass the information to her husband and that she accessed the files out of her “own sense of enquiry and satisfaction”, wanting to see if she had worked with any of the victims.
Judge James Sampson said: “This was sustained offending. Your motive, whatever you say, in my judgment, was undoubtedly to assist if you could your husband. At the time, of course, he was not a convicted man.
“You could not resist the temptation to look at this material.
“It is perhaps an understatement to say this is a gross breach of trust.”
Sentencing her to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordering her to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work, he said: “You have now lost your job, your career, your husband to a 20 year sentence and I accept that these last three years have been stressful for both you and your children.”
Speaking after the hearing, Alison Michalska, from the children and adults department at Nottingham City Council, said: “Her actions were a significant breach of professional and ethical standards and once we discovered her gross misconduct, we took swift action, reporting her to the police and dismissing her from her job.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2016, All Rights Reserved. Pictures (c) Alex Britton / PA Wire.
