A two-year saga that filled tabloid pages has drawn to a close with the charges against the last police officer involved in the leaking of Dani Laidley’s arrest dropped.
Key points:
- Former AFL coach Dani Laidley had details of her 2020 stalking arrest shared in a private police WhatsApp group
- Charges against the three police officers involved in the scandal have now been dropped
- Ms Laidley reached a confidential financial settlement with Victoria Police in March
Constable David Hall was charged with two counts of unauthorized disclosure of police information for sharing details of the former North Melbourne Football Club coach’s arrest in May 2020.
The charges were struck out in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court this morning.
It comes after two other police officers implicated in the scandal also had their charges dropped earlier this year.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Murray Gentner — accused of accessing Ms Laidley’s arrest record and sharing it in a Whatsapp group — successfully challenged six criminal charges leveled at him.
Senior Constable Shane Reid was cleared of four charges in April after admitting to taking a photo of Ms Laidley during her arrest and sharing it.
Ms Laidley had been arrested for stalking, and was spared a conviction and placed on an adjourned undertaking instead.
Ms Laidley launched legal action in Victoria’s Supreme Court following the scandal which outed her as a transgender, claiming Victoria Police was liable for the alleged actions of three police officers.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton publicly apologised following the incident and said that Victoria Police had done the wrong thing.
“It was a breach of Dani’s human rights, it’s inappropriate conduct, it’s not acceptable,” he told ABC Melbourne radio.
Ms Laidley reached a confidential settlement with Victoria Police over the leak in March.
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