Detective jailed over child porn

A Metropolitan Police officer has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for photographing and distributing indecent images of children.

David Geering, 48, was caught after contacting an undercover police officer from the Met's Paedophile Unit who was posing online as a 12-year-old girl.

He was serving as a detective constable at the time of the offences.

Geering, from Herts, was arrested last March and was suspended from duty pending the outcome of the case.

'Trading images'

Further investigations revealed that the officer, from St Albans, who used the false name of Nigel Robotham, was involved in distributing hundreds of indecent images of children to other paedophiles.

Officers traced his use of computers to an internet cafe in Victoria, central London, a residential address in Hertfordshire, and an address in Spain.

Items recovered during his arrest linked him to the user names and identity used to contact the undercover officer.

After liaising with other police forces, the Paedophile Unit discovered that Geering had been trading indecent images of children with others, some of which were in Level 5, the most extreme category.

Police also examined a camera memory card which revealed indecent images of two children which Geering had taken himself.

Det Supt Sue Knight, of the Met's Child Abuse Investigation Command, said: "This case will be another reminder to paedophiles that wherever they go and whatever their occupation, the Met's Paedophile Unit will respond to all allegations about individuals who may be putting children at risk of abuse and will track the perpetrator down.

Geering, who was convicted on 28 April, was required to resign when he was convicted, the Met said.

He was sentenced on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court.