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

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.