Disgraced Met policeman made indecent image of a child but avoided jail

Former PC Daniel Babbs would have been dismissed without notice had he not resigned
Daniel Babbs pleaded guilty to uploading an indecent image on social media
PA Archive
Miriam Burrell16 November 2022
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A former Metropolitan police officer has been sentenced for making an indecent image of a child and uploading an indecent image onto social media.

Former PC Daniel Babbs, of Surrey, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.

An accelerated misconduct hearing concluded he would have been dismissed without notice had he not resigned from the Met.

He was also handed a seven year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a 10 year Notification Order and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £425 in costs.

Babbs had pleaded guilty in July to three counts of making an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

He was arrested in September 2021 after uploading an indecent image on a social media platform. Following examination of his electronic equipment, further images were found.

He resigned from the Met in November 2021 and was charged on June 26 this year.

Prior to his resignation, he was attached to the Met’s Forensic Services department.

At a hearing held at the Empress State Building on Wednesday former PC Babb was found to have breached the standards of Discreditable Conduct at the level of Gross Misconduct and would have been dismissed without notice had he not resigned.

Chris Porter, Director of Forensic Services, said: “We remain committed to ensuring that our workforce meets the highest levels of professionalism, and where we find this to not be the case, we will take appropriate action through the criminal courts and our own internal misconduct procedures.”

He will now be added to the Barred List held by the College of Policing.

Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies (PCCs), the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in