Mark Blake worked as a detention custody officer at a Serco-run Colnbrook immigration centre
An ex-official who leaked stories about an immigration centre has been spared jail to care for his two children.
While working as a detention custody officer, Mark Blake, 42, from Slough, was paid almost £8,000 for tips about Colnbrook in west London.
His tips resulted in 10 stories being published by the Sun newspaper over three years.
Blake had pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office in August before a retrial was due to get under way.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years, plus 100 hours of unpaid work.
In his sentencing, judge Mark Lucraft QC said he had taken account of a number of factors, including Blake's status as the primary carer of his two children, aged six and 14.
He said he had also considered the time since the original offences, which took place between January 2008 and December 2010.
Blake was prosecuted under Operation Elveden, the Met Police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials.
Meanwhile, a former prison officer who was also arrested under Elveden has admitted selling information about singer George Michael's time in prison to the Sun newspaper.
