Jessica Anne Underwood pleads guilty in Tamworth court to accessing, disclosing secure police information

Jessica Anne Underwood fronted Tamworth Local Court on Monday when guilty pleas were entered for three charges.

"The seriousness of these matters arise, of course, because they involve issues in relation to the administration of justice," magistrate Julie Soars said. "Your client - as would be expected - has nothing on her record."

Ms Soars ordered a full background report into Underwood's offending, before the 33-year-old faces sentencing in the local court next month.

"There's no request for any sort of non-publication is there?" Ms Soars asked.

Defence solicitor Tammy White and the lawyer for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) confirmed there was not.

Both legal representatives will hand up written submissions before the case returns to court in June.

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The Leader can reveal Underwood was working as a NSW Police Force communications officer in Tamworth when she used her personal phone to take - and send - photos of secure information.

Underwood was on shift just after 6am on September 28, last year, when she accessed a report which contained an opinion that specific people were members of outlaw motorcycle groups.

The police case was that Underwood took photos of the information report on her phone and texted them to her partner of 12 years at the time, and they discussed the information.

About 7.15pm on October 7, 2022, Underwood accessed her work emails and took a photo of an internal email, which was classified as official and sensitive.

She sent it on to the same person, who replied "holy", and she responded "creepy, hey".

On the afternoon of November 22, she accessed a work email about drug prices, which couldn't be distributed without the permission of the commander of the State Intelligence Command.

According to the facts, she took photos on her phone about cannabis, ketamine and pharmaceuticals, and sent them to the same witness.

When they said "what's that", she told them, and added a smiling and crying face emoji.

She was questioned by detectives in February and was charged.

She pleaded guilty to unlawfully disclosing information as a public official; and two counts of accessing or modifying restricted data held in a computer.

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