Derbyshire Police Authority had trimmed James Hardy's pension by 35 per cent after he was convicted for accessing the police computer database to give former boxer Martin Jolley the personal details of three men.

But Judge Granville Styler described the reduction as "too high" and reduced the drop to 25 per cent.

Hardy — 29 at the time and of Hasland in Chesterfield — had been working at the Derbyshire Police's Ripley HQ and admitted conspiracy to commit misfeasance in public office.

He was given a nine-month jail term after the Court of Appeal quashed his initial 28-week suspended prison sentence for being too lenient.

Stuart Biggs, representing Hardy, suggested the pension should be reduced by between 20 and 25 per cent. He compared it with a 40 per cent cut imposed on two policemen from another force who had seized drugs and then sold them.

But Debra Powell, for Derbyshire Police Authority, said Hardy's case was serious because he tried to pass details of three men to former boxer Martin Jolley, who had convictions for violence.

She told Derby Crown Court: "The Court of Appeal said it must have been obvious there was a serious risk that Jolley would subject these men to physical violence."

When Hardy was initially sentenced, the court heard that Jolley suspected two men of stealing from his partner's pub. A third was alleged to have attacked Jolley with a glass.

But Hardy had been unable to pass on details because police officers were able to intervene before his girlfriend delivered them.

Hardy – who resigned from the force – had earlier been told by senior officers not to associate with Jolley.

Investigators set up cameras on his desk and used technology to track the information he was seeking from the police national computer.

Jolley, of Wingerworth, had admitted counselling or procuring Hardy to commit the offence and was given a 51-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.