'Dozens' of indecent images found on ex-PC's phone

A police officer whose mobile phone was found to contain more than 80 indecent images of children has been barred from serving with any force.

The officer, who joined West Yorkshire Police in May 2022, was arrested just months later on suspicion of possessing the material.

A misconduct hearing earlier was told 85 images were found on his mobile phone, with 46 of those deemed the most serious, Category A.

The panel chair, Assistant Chief Constable Damien Miller, said the officer was not being named in the hearing to "avoid prejudice of future criminal proceedings".

Alison Walker, legal services for West Yorkshire Police, told the accelerated misconduct hearing in Wakefield that when the officer was arrested he admitted the phone belonged to him and nobody else had access to it.

She said at the time the constable, who had since resigned from the force, denied any knowledge of indecent images and said he had no sexual interest in children.

Examinations of his phone uncovered indecent images of both boys and girls as well as moving images, Ms Walker said.

She added: "Forensic reports confirm that some of the images were created when he was a serving police officer."

Ms Walker said his possession of indecent images "constitutes a real and tangible risk to members of the public specifically individuals such as children" and as such he breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to discreditable conduct.

"These breaches caused serious discredit to policing and the harm caused to children to produce such images is impossible to overstate."

Giving his findings, ACC Miller said he found "that the officer has, on the balance of probability, been found to have possessed indecent images set out in the allegation."

He said because the officer, who was not present at the hearing, had not put forward any submission or explanation for the allegation, that "his culpability was high" and his behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

The panel said that had the officer not resigned from his role, he would have been dismissed.

ACC Miller said: "My role is not punitive, that role falls to the criminal justice system."

He added: "My primary motive in this case is to ensure that it's clear this misconduct is completely incompatible with being a police officer and to deter future misconduct by other officers.

"Also considered is the need to prevent this officer from committing future misconduct and this can only be achieved by his dismissal and placing him on the barred list."

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