A Met police officer who downloaded the highest category of child abuse images has been sacked by the force, it emerged today.
Last week the Standard revealed how Pc Rupert Watkins, 45, downloaded over 100 images on his phone including Category A, which depict penetrative sexual activity with children.
The force today announced it sacked the Bromley-based officer “without notice” following a formal misconduct hearing yesterday. It found he breached standards so severely it amounted to gross misconduct.
Watkins was suspended last July after he was arrested. He pleaded guilty at Westminster magistrates’ court in December to three counts of making indecent photos of a child, but continued to receive full pay – around £40,000 – until his sacking. There is no suggestion he manufactured images as the charges also incorporate downloading.
When confronted about his convictions by the Standard the officer for 20 years admitted visiting child abuse websites after becoming addicted to normal pornography and turning to drink.
He claimed he clicked on links to child abuse websites advertised on adult pornography websites.
But he was caught after intelligence, gathered from monitored websites by the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, was passed to his own force’s Paedophile Unit.
Watkins, who lives with his wife, received a two year community order, a sexual harm prevention order and was ordered to pay £560 costs.
Following his sacking Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor, the Met’s lead for Professional Standards, today said: “The behaviour of PC Watkins fell far below that which is expected of a police officer and therefore it is only right the chair held him to account and the officer was dismissed from the Met.”
