A former police officer has avoided jail after he perjured himself in a pre-trial hearing of a sexual assault case against NRL player Jack de Belin.

The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lied under oath in 2020 about accessing text messages between Mr de Belin and his lawyer, Craig Osborne, during the investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Mr de Belin and his co-accused, Callan Sinclair.

He falsely told the court in a sworn affidavit, and during a pre-trial stay application, that he thought the text messages he was reviewing on the St George Illawarra star's phone as part of a search warrant pertained to "Dragon's business".

The court heard 190 of 203 text messages accessed between Mr de Belin and Mr Osborne were subject to legal professional privilege.

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