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| Former Broadmoor worker Alan Ostler admits misconduct | Former Broadmoor worker Alan Ostler admits misconduct |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A former worker at the high-security Broadmoor hospital has been given a suspended prison sentence after passing information to tabloid newspapers. | |
| Alan Ostler, 32, from Uxbridge, north-west London, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to committing misconduct in public office in 2008. | |
| Ostler was an assistant technical instructor at the Berkshire hospital. | Ostler was an assistant technical instructor at the Berkshire hospital. |
| He was sentenced to seven months in jail, suspended for 18 months, and given 150 hours of community work. | He was sentenced to seven months in jail, suspended for 18 months, and given 150 hours of community work. |
| Ostler was arrested under the Metropolitan Police's Operation Elveden investigation which is is looking into corrupt payments to police and public officials. | |
| A number of high-profile convicted criminals are housed at Broadmoor, a psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne. | A number of high-profile convicted criminals are housed at Broadmoor, a psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne. |
| Ostler had been employed at the hospital for six years when he committed the offence. | |
| He contacted a newspaper and supplied it with information about a patient's gender re-assignment process. Although a report was published, the newspaper had confirmed the story with another source and did not pay Ostler. | |
| Prosecutors said Ostler later attempted to sell a story about a Broadmoor's Got Talent contest. Although the story was not published, he was given a £250 "kill fee" for the information. | |
| The judge said the incident "aggravated" Ostler's offence. | |
| In his sentencing remarks, judge Nicholas Hilliard QC added: "The public are entitled to expect that those who hold a public office and are paid by the public will not abuse that trust for money as you sought to do. | |
| "This offence, however, is at the lower end of the scale. You did not hold a senior position and were not in fact paid money for the information which is the subject of the charge to which you have pleaded guilty." |