Young persons' police officer jailed for making indecent images

Paul Davies, whose job had included warning students and pupils of the dangers of sexting, met the teenager while part of a safeguarding team investigating reports of a male acting suspiciously in an alleyway in February last year.

He took down her details which included the date of birth and so he knew her age, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The 57-year-old - an officer with 29 years service - encouraged her to follow him on his police Twitter account, invited her to a meeting warning of the dangers of smoking and gave her his personal phone number, revealed Mr Alex Warren, prosecuting, who continued: "They exchanged messages regularly on WhatsApp and Snapchat which did not start as sexual but became so with the sending of naked selfie photos. The contact then petered out."

The girl was later reported missing and after her return gave police officers full details of her contact with father of two Davies.

He was arrested on June 20 and gave a 'no comment' interview but analysis of his phone revealed five indecent photographs of the girl which had been deleted but were recovered with specialist equipment, the court heard.

They had been taken by the girl who sent them to him via Snapchat on which photographs disappear after a short time but the police officer saved them before they vanished by taking screen shots, explained Mr Warren. Davies retired from the West Midlands force soon afterwards.

The teenager made clear the officer had put no pressure on her to do this and explained: "He instigated the sexual chat but I just picked it up and went with it."

Mr Simon Hunka, defending, conceded: "His behaviour was thoroughly inappropriate professionally but did not represent the way he reacted in his role as young persons officer for Dudley. He was truly dedicated to encouraging children to better themselves and is now thoroughly ashamed of himself. One can imagine the friction this has caused in his marriage.

"He faces the uncomfortable reality of being someone once looked up to by the local community which now finds it hard to meet his eyes but we are dealing with a case that involved a girl who, for over a year, could have legally engaged in sexual activity."

Davies from Thoresby Croft, Dudley pleaded guilty to making indecent images involving five photos, all from the lowest category for the crime.

He was jailed by Judge James Burbidge QC who told him: "The images were not of the most serious type but the young girl displayed her private genitalia at your request when you were the young persons officer for the Dudley area.

"You groomed her to a degree by encouraging her to contact you. You were a married man with significant police service and, in your post, was telling young people about the dangers of exchanging indecent photographs. Whether you took leave of your senses or have a predilection for young females is unclear."

The judge concluded: "Because of the position you held together with the essence of grooming and the disparity in age this is not a prison sentence that can be suspended."

Detective Constable Leanne Tully, from the public protection unit at West Midlands Police, said: "Davies was a young persons' officer during his time with the force which makes this all the more deplorable.

"There is no place in society for this kind of behaviour and he must now serve time behind bars."