A CROWN Office worker has been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act and Data Protection Act by leaking information about court cases to people he knew.

Iain Sawers, 25, was convicted after a seven-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

A jury returned guilty verdicts on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and breaching the Official Secrets Act and the Data Protection Act.

The court heard that Sawers, who worked in a productions office of the Procurator Fiscal Service, had accessed information about cases and passed it on to his friends, in at least one case handing out names and addresses of people involved.

Sheriff Kenneth Maciver deferred sentence but told Sawers, who has no previous convictions, that due to the nature of the offences he was considering imposing a custodial sentence.

He said: "You were a member of the Procurator Fiscal Service, in a position of trust, and that trust was betrayed. That has an effect on the reputation of the Procurator Fiscal Service and public confidence in it."

Sawers, from Edinburgh, joined the productions office in Chambers Street in the city in 2008. His induction covered security of information, the warning that any breach could lead to disciplinary proceedings and the fact that under the Official Secrets Act, the unauthorised disclosure of documents was an offence.

His crimes came to light when police began an investigation into the case of 27-year old Calum Stewart on charges of breach of bail and attempting to pervert the course of justice by threatening his ex-partner, Kelli Anne Smillie, if she gave evidence in a trial in July 2013.

Stewart paid for her and her mother to go on holiday to Benidorm on the week of the trial.

The police investigations led them to a number of phone calls and text messages between Stewart and Sawers between January 24 and 29 this year.

These led to Stewart phoning Ms Smillie, threatening her and calling her, her mother and her sister "grasses". They were to be witnesses in the outstanding trial that has since been deserted by the Crown.

The police also recovered Sawers' iPhone. Although many messages had been deleted, forensic experts were able to recover them and the telephone numbers of the senders and receiver. They showed that between April 2008 and January 2014, Sawers had passed on information to other people on nine occasions.

A check on the productions office computer showed that shortly after receiving a call, Sawers' secret personal user number was used to access the information. The information was then phoned to the inquirer.

The messages included someone inquiring about a friend: "Will he be getting the jail?" The reply said: "Not sure yet, system aint been updated, should know by lunch."

Another call: "Mate can you look at ma s*** in ur work?" Reply: "Will do bud, what you needing checked?" Names and addresses of people involved in cases were given out.

The jury found Stewart guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice and breach of bail. Neither man gave evidence during the trial.

In his closing address to the jury, Fiscal Depute Keith O'Mahony told them: "This trial is about you as members of the public, who at some time in the future may be the victim of a crime. If you are, you will go to the police and they will bring the case to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

"When you report that case you must have confidence your details - name, address, date of birth and telephone number - will be kept safe, secure and confidential."

Sentence was deterred on both men until September 19.

Stewart, who has 15 previous convictions, was told that custody was inevitable. Sawers was allowed bail.