A policeman has been cleared of breaching data protection laws.
Detective Constable Euan Duthie had been on trial accused of two charges of accessing the Grampian Police Crime File system twice without permission, and for non-policing purposes.
It was alleged the detective had been using the system to check up on his former partner after he was made aware that she was the subject of a police investigation.
Duthie, whose address was given as care of Police Scotland, denied accessing the secure information himself.
However, he accepted that the files were viewed on February 27 and April 2, 2012 using his unique username and password.
This morning the 44-year-old was acquitted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court having been on trial last week.
Sheriff Christopher Shead said that there was enough of a doubt to make him believe it was possible the allegations were false and found him not guilty.
During the trial, Detective Sergeant Murray King told the court he had originally been approached by Duthie a few days before a drugs warrant was due to be executed at his former partner’s home.
He said Duthie, who was part of the major investigations team, was concerned that if the search was carried out in the morning, his teenage son may be implicated if any drugs were found.
DS King said he reassured Duthie that the search was due to be carried out in the afternoon.
Duthie was also advised not to have anything further to do with the case and was told he would be informed by other officers what had happened when the search was over.
The court heard that when Duthie became aware his former partner was of interest to the police he told his superiors, who made him sign a minute of agreement which stated he would have nothing to do with any cases against her.
As a result of the agreement, professional standards monitored Duthie’s computer usage.
However, during a six-month review they discovered a crime file relating to her had been accessed by Duthie’s user name and password on two separate days.
Duthie insisted that someone else must have “hopped on to a computer he was using” to check the file, which had been created by former Detective Constable Lee Ballantyne.
Duthie refused to comment after he left court.