A Metropolitan Police officer used the force’s computer systems and colluded with a Croydon Council worker to dig up information to use in a dispute over a dodgy second-hand car, a court has heard.

Former New Addington police community support officer (PCSO) Paul Potter, 39, asked council officer Alan O’Brien, 49, to request a background check on Anthony Everest in June 2013 after receiving a complaint about a Mitsubishi car he had bought from him, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Two months earlier Mr Potter, of Epsom, had sold the vehicle to Adam Pethick, who later reported the car to Hampshire Police after mechanics told him it was a "cut and shut" - two different vehicles that had been joined together.

As well as the background check, Mr Potter used the police system to enquire about the registration of a Vauxhall van owned by Mr Everest in November 2013 - the same month he contacted the Police Federation asking for support with the case, the jury heard.

Both Mr Potter and Mr O’Brien, a former anti-social behaviour officer at Croydon Council, are on trial accused of breaching the Data Protection Act.

It is also alleged that Mr Potter, who joined the Met in 2003 and was later promoted to sergeant, misused police computers in April and June 2014 to find out information about an alleged domestic assault involving Mr O’Brien’s brother, Paul.

Opening the trial at Southwark Crown Crown Court today, prosecutor Max Hardy said Mr Potter’s alleged use of the police systems “had nothing to do with his day job or his duties,” adding: “This is not about the car…this is about Mr Potter making enquiries using systems he shouldn’t have used."

The jury heard how, after Mr Pethick reported the Mitsubishi he had bought to Hampshire Police in April 2013, it emerged the vehicle contained parts from a car stolen in South Yorkshire in 2008.

Mr Hardy told the jury that Mr Potter had “felt he was as much of a victim in all of this”, and in June 2013 asked Mr O’Brien, of Sittingbourne, Kent, to request a background check on Mr Everest.

Mr O’Brien, who “regularly met” Mr Potter to discuss anti-social behaviour issues, later sent the results to the police officer by email, Mr Hardy said.

The prosecutor added: "Neither of these gentlemen had any place obtaining this personal information."

Mr Hardy told the jury: "They were two private individuals having a dispute about a car and this was nothing to do with Mr Potter as a police officer or his work as a police officer.

"But it couldn't surprise you to learn that police officers have access to systems that other people don't have.”

The court also heard how, in April and June 2014, Mr Potter ran two searches on a “number of names” including “Plumber” and “Paul O’Brien” after a discussion with Alan O’Brien about a relative who had been accused of assaulting his wife.

When Mr Potter was interviewed under caution in December 2014, Mr Hardy said: “He didn’t recall the relative’s name, but understood from police disclosures that it could have been Paul O’Brien."

Mr Hardy added that, when speaking to police, Mr Potter said “he became concerned that it might have been viewed that he had been given information about the whereabouts of a potential suspect.

“It was with that in mind that he recalled looking up the crime reports so he could fully apprise himself [of the situation].”

But Mr Hardy added: "Whatever the reason was for Mr Potter to use the police system in April 2014 and again in June  2014, again had nothing to do with his job as a police officer.”

Giving evidence today, Hampshire police officer Penny Houghton told the court that after discovering the Mitsubishi was stolen in July 2013 she advised Mr Potter to contact the Met’s professional standard department to make them aware of the situation.

The court also heard that Mr Potter had told his manager, Inspector Clare Robbins, about the car dispute - but did not tell her or Ms Houghton about using the computer systems to investigate Mr Everest himself.

Both men deny a charge of obtaining or disclosing personal information.

Mr Potter also denies four counts of breaching the Computer Misuse Act.

The trial continues.