Kate Middleton Privacy Invasion: Jailed Ex-Police Officer Sold Royal's Secrets to Tabloid

Identity of policeman who leaked personal tidbits about the duchess is finally made public

By Josh Grossberg Jun 06, 2013 5:22 PMTags
Kate Middleton, Duchess CatherineLEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Image

When it comes to protecting her privacy, Kate Middleton apparently can't even trust the people supposedly guarding it.

A jailed London police officer named Paul Flattley was revealed today to be the Scotland Yard constable who leaked secrets about the Duchess of Cambridge to The Sun newspaper in exchange for boatloads of cash.

Per the U.K.'s Telegraph, the 30-year-old Flattley shared information about Middleton, including early word about her engagement to Prince William, and other celebs for a total of 39 tips he provided for the tabloid over a three-year period in exchange for payments totaling close to $12,000. 

In fact, the paper reports that the officer began tipping off The Sun only a year after he joined Metropolitan Police in early 2008.

Flattley was eventually arrested in January 2012 and, after pleading guilty to charges of misconduct in a public office, was sentenced to two years in the clink in March.

His identity, however, was kept secret in accordance with British law until reporting restrictions were lifted, which occurred when the Crown Prosecution Service announced today it would not pursue a case against 33-year-old Virginia Wheeler—the Sun's editor who's accused of paying him—because she's unfit to stand trial owing to her ill health.