Ex-police officer spared jail after looking at 'most serious' of child sex abuse images

Jimmy Nsubuga
Retired Detective Inspector David Mortimer was spared jail (Picture: Police)
Retired Detective Inspector David Mortimer was spared jail (Picture: Police)

A former Met Police detective who was found guilty of seeking images of underage girls online has been spared jail.

Retired Detective Inspector David Mortimer, 59, was caught with a 30-minute long video of the most serious Category A sexual abuse of a girl when officers raided his home in north London, in July, 2018.

National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators later found file-sharing software on his laptop had been used to download titles indicative of child abuse in February last year.

Detectives said movie file names recovered from deleted areas of his computer indicated child abuse.

His laptop and mobile phone also showed conversations between Mortimer and unidentified people about him seeking girls as young as 14.

A revolving sign outside New Scotland Yard on the Victoria Embankment in London. New Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The headquarters has moved several times since the inception of ‘the Met’ in 1829 and was originally in Whitehall Place and backing on to Great Scotland Yard, from whence derived the name ‘Scotland Yard’
New Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service (Picture: Getty)

Mortimer, who worked for the Met Police for 30 years, attempted to cover up his offending by claiming he was trying to gather evidence of child abuse for the police.

But he was convicted of both making and attempting to make indecent images of children following a four day trial at Kingston Crown Court.

Mortimer, of Barnet, north London, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at the same court for sentencing.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, and told to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for the next ten years.

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Mortimer was ordered to carry out 160 hours of unpaid community service.

Brent Lyon, NCA operations manager, said: “Mortimer and men like him are perpetuating the horrific abuse of children the world over.

"His sick sexual interest in children fuels other offenders to carry out more and more contact abuse.

“Behind every image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated by their abuse and men like Mortimer are directly responsible for it.

“As an ex-police officer his betrayal is all the worse.”