A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with a sexual offence and possessing extreme pornography.
Detective Sergeant Benjamin McNish, 29, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday following an investigation by Scotland Yard’s directorate of professional standards.
He is accused of observing a person doing a private act for his sexual gratification, and possessing an extreme pornographic image.
The image allegedly portrayed “in an explicit and realistic way”, a person performing a sex act “with a live animal, namely a dog, which was grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character," according to court documents.
"A reasonable person looking at the image would think that any such person or animal was real," the documents read.
Scotland Yard said McNish was not on duty at the time of the alleged sexual offence, which took place on February 18 last year in Swiss Cottage, north-west London.
“A serving MPS officer has been charged with two offences,” Met Police said in a statement.
“The arrest and charge follows an investigation by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards.
“The officer was not on duty at the time of the alleged sexual offence.”
