A 27-year-old female police officer has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after CCTV footage captured her kissing an inmate with whom she was having a romantic relationship, while still wearing her police uniform.
Choni Kenny was filmed embracing prisoner Josh Whelan at Forest Bank Prison in Salford, where he was incarcerated between 2021 and 2023.
Intimate moment, caught in the prison’s waiting area, was part of the evidence that led to her conviction this week.
Kenny, who joined Greater Manchester Police in 2020, was expected to uphold the law and protect the public, but according to the Crown Prosecution Service’s Alan Richardson, she failed in those duties by engaging with two known criminals.
Her relationship with Whelan included smuggling in mobile phones — 20 in total — and maintaining secret communications.
She also passed on confidential police information, including a victim impact statement connected to Whelan’s domestic violence case.
Even after Whelan’s release, the relationship continued, with the pair spotted together at a Nando’s and in Kenny’s BMW. Kenny later used police systems to check the details of other released prisoners.
According to Judge Neil Flewitt KC, Kenny wasn’t simply involved in a relationship but was actively assisting Whelan in managing criminal operations from behind bars.
The court also heard that Kenny later began a casual relationship with another known criminal, Rahim Mottley, a former classmate who was under investigation by her police department.
While Mottley was abroad in Spain, Kenny shared sensitive police data with him, including advance warnings of a firearms raid and information on potential informants.
She even attended a training course on handling police informants while secretly feeding information to Mottley. He was later extradited to the UK in October 2024.
Judge Flewitt noted that while Kenny was not motivated by money or malice, her actions stemmed from “naivety, immaturity, and a desire to maintain her relationships.”
Following her sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Allen described Kenny’s conduct as “serious corruption” and stated her prison term was warranted.
“She now reflects on her actions behind bars — where she belongs,” he said, stressing that Kenny’s behavior is not reflective of the thousands of dedicated officers within Greater Manchester Police.
Kenny, who lived on Tennyson Road in Cheadle, admitted to four counts of misconduct in public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct.
She received a prison sentence of three years and nine months and had already been dismissed from the force following an expedited misconduct hearing on April 1.
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