Ex-job centre employee Brooke Holmes charged with illegally accessing former co-worker's phone number after he ended their affair

Brooke Holmes, who now runs F45 Training at Shellharbour, is accused of repeatedly ringing the man after he ended their 12-month relationship in 2014 and threatening to divulge their affair to her husband.

Holmes also allegedly phoned the man’s new girlfriend, telling her they were still sleeping together and that he was the father of her unborn child.

Documents presented to Wollongong Local Court on Friday said Holmes was working for ORS Group at the time in a role that gave her access to the restricted Employee Services System (ESS), which contained personal information including addresses and contact details for job seekers.

The court heard Holmes and the victim, who also worked for ORS Group, had an affair between mid-2013 and mid-2014. He left the company in February 2015, saying he was forced to repeatedly change his mobile phone number to avoid calls from Holmes.

He told police he only disclosed the new numbers to a few people and organisations, including his job service provider, MBC Employment Solutions.

The numbers were stored on his ESS profile. Police allege Holmes illegally accessed this profile 35 times in early 2015 to obtain the victim’s new numbers.

The man complained to the Department of Employment in August, prompting the investigation. 

Court documents said the victim had never been a client of ORS Group, meaning Holmes had no authorised reason to access his profile.

Holmes had been due to front court on Thursday on a charge of accessing restricted data without authorisation, however failed to show up, prompting the magistrate to convict her in her absence and issue a warrant for her arrest.

She was apprehended on Friday morning and held in custody until being granted conditional bail in court around 3.30pm.

Holmes’ lawyer, Tyrone Phillips, said she would likely seek to have the conviction overturned when the case returned to court on June 6.