Retired Met cops jailed over three-year plot to share 'most depraved' child sexual abuse images

28 July 2023, 15:47

Two retired Metropolitan Police officers have been jailed over a three-year plot to share "the most depraved" child sexual abuse images together with a serving Met chief inspector, who was found dead before he was charged.

Jack Addis, 63, and Jeremy Laxton, 63, were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, having previously pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring with Richard Watkinson, 49, to distribute or show indecent images of children.

The images and videos had been shared "for their own sexual pleasure" via a hard drive that they added to when they met up, the court heard.

Watkinson, who was a serving Met chief inspector for neighbourhood policing, was found dead at his home in Saunderton, Buckinghamshire, on January 12, following welfare concerns. The court heard he took his own life.

He had been suspended from duty following his arrest in July 2021 and was that day due to answer bail to be charged with the conspiracy, as well as three counts of making indecent photos of a child, voyeurism and two counts of misconduct in public office.

According to the charge, the three men conspired to "distribute or show indecent images of children to each other" between January 1 2018 and July 10 2021.

The images, which were found on the hard drive, included 2,516 in Category A - the worst kind, 1,032 in Category B and 1,701 in Category C.

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On top of the conspiracy charge, Laxton pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, possession of a prohibited image, possessing an extreme pornographic image and possession of cannabis on or before September 20 2021.

Karen Walton, for Laxton, said her client has to live with the public deeming him "part and parcel" of trust in the police force being at "an all-time low".

The images include 6,086 in Category A, 4,039 in Category B, 3,597 in Category C, seven prohibited images of a child and 56 extreme pornographic images which were "grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an extreme character" depicting a person having sex with an animal, according to the indictment.

Investigators found devices in a "cavity" Laxton had created behind the walls of his home after seeing a message he sent someone to say he "buried" his equipment within the walls.

One officer, tasked with looking through the material, described one of the images as "one of the most disturbing Category A images in existence".

Laxton further pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of the offence of misconduct in a public office between December 1 2019 and May 1 2021.

Laxton admitted separate offences at Lincoln Magistrates' Court, for which he was also sentenced on Friday.

In Lincoln, he admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornographic images, possessing prohibited images and possessing cannabis.

Mr Justice Wall jailed Laxton for five years and nine months and Addis, from Perthshire in Scotland, for three years and nine months.

"The images you traded in were of the most depraved," the judge said.

He added: "You had each been policemen and although not working directly in child protection must have been fully aware of the damage done to real children by the filming of such disturbing images."