The police watchdog is investigating a potential offence of “misconduct in public office” by the Beds Police and Crime Commissioner.
Olly Martins was given a written warning by the Beds Police and Crime Panel in January for passing on confidential information about the death of Leon Briggs in police custody.
The matter was then referred back to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) at the panel’s meeting on Thursday.
The panel report said: “The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner conducted himself in a manner which indicates that he may have committed an offence of misconduct in public office, by sharing confidential information which he had received in connection with the performance of his office about the investigation into the death of Leon Briggs, with a person not authorised to receive such information.”
In the meeting agenda, the panel said this was a “serious matter” and the panel has issued “a severe reprimand”.
Future breaches of confidence “will not be tolerated”.
The matter is now in the hands of the IPCC.
At the time of receiving the written warning, Mr Martins said: “To my deep regret I discussed, purely with a close associate, some information that had been provided to me in my role as PCC regarding the death of Leon Briggs. Unfortunately, the person to whom I spoke did not appreciate the sensitivity of what had been said, nor indeed completely understand it, and went on to repeat a garbled interpretation of it to a third party.”