A BROTHER and sister are due in court after being charged with corruption involving organised crime groups.

Catherine Arrol, 28, a former Thames Valley Police (TVP) call handler, and her brother John Arrol, 38, have been charged following an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation.

They appeared together at Reading Magistrates Court on Wednesday (October 11) where they were told they could no longer contact each other.

READ MORE: Thames Valley Police call handler investigation for corruption

The court heard that Miss Arrol was working from home, where she lived with her parents and brother, during the coronavirus pandemic when the alleged incidents happened.

It was alleged that Miss Arrol, of Silver Close, Maidenhead, had input non-emergency queries into the police system and managed the queries while Mr Arrol, of Manor Lane, Sunbury, allegedly accessed the police system to 'look up information that was then shared with organised criminal groups'. 

The court heard there was also an alleged EncroChat found on a phone in Miss Arrol's room which shows information being shared 'across the criminal network'.

Miss Arrol indicated guilty to three offences relating to participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group and four charges of misconduct in public office.

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Mr Arrol has made no indication of his charges of three counts of participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group as a result of the investigation.

The pair were granted bail with the condition not to contact each other and their two co-defendants, Richard Boyles and Kieran Quinn, the latter believed to have left the jurisdiction.

They will both also need to surrender their passports within the next seven days. 

Mr Arrol's defence barrister told the court Mr Arrol had a holiday booked to Tenerife next week and a December holiday to Disneyland Paris but the Magistrate judges told the court the conditions were necessary due to the 'seriousness of the offences and likely sentences' the pair could receive if found guilty.

The court also heard that members of the alleged organised crime group which were allegedly receiving information from the brother and sister have also fled the jurisdiction.

Charges were brought after the investigation which followed a mandatory referral from TVP in May 2020.

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On conclusion of the investigation in July 2022, a file of evidence was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, which has now authorised charges.

Both are now due to appear at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, November 14 as the charges are too serious to deal with in the lower courts.