Man convicted in connection with offences under the Data Protection Act
Date: 8th August 2025
38 year old Anthony BOLAÑOS has today been found Guilty at the Supreme Court in relation to offences under the Data Protection Act 2004. He was fined a total of £1000.00 in relation to one count of Unlawfully Retaining Personal Data and one count of Unlawfully Disclosing Personal Data. A further charge of Unlawfully Retaining Personal Data had been withdrawn by the Crown yesterday.
The case dates back to November 2022, when BOLAÑOS, who had prior to that time served as a Police Constable with the Royal Gibraltar Police, received two photographs containing sensitive police information from Robert McKINNON, via a mobile messaging application. At the time, McKINNON was a serving officer of the Royal Gibraltar Police, who without lawful authority exploited his position as a police officer to access a police system, take photographs of sensitive data, and then share them with BOLAÑOS.
In November 2024, both individuals were charged with offences under the Data Protection Act 2004 and appeared before the Magistrates’ Court. McKINNON pleaded “Guilty” to 2 counts of Unlawful Obtaining of Personal Data and was fined. BOLAÑOS pleaded “Not Guilty” and elected to appear before the Supreme Court, with the trial held throughout this week.
Commissioner Owain Richards said, “Police officers and staff routinely have access to personal and sensitive information, and it is both a public expectation and a legal requirement that such information will be treated in the strictest confidence, be adequately protected and only used for legitimate policing purposes.
“Accessing and handling confidential police information without a legitimate policing purpose is an abuse of position. Trust and confidence in police officers and staff is essential, therefore, any member of staff who fails to uphold the high values and standards we expect in policing will be dealt with robustly. Similarly, any third-party who receives and/or otherwise processes personal data in breach of Data Protection legislation will equally be dealt with robustly.
"The individuals in this case were held accountable to a criminal threshold, with one pleading guilty and fined, and the other convicted today. Today’s outcome sends a clear message from the judiciary about the expectations it has about the accessing and handling of personal and sensitive data, particularly information held within police systems.”