Plebgate: Downing Street Police Officer Fined £6,000 for Sending Extreme Porn

A Downing Street policeman who sent "unusual " extreme pornography to Metropolitan Police colleagues' mobile phones using Whatsapp has been fined £6,000.

PC James Addison sent videos on his mobile phone - including images of people defecating - in breach of the Obscene Publications Act while he worked as a protection officer at prime minister David Cameron's home.

He was arrested in December by officers who were investigating the Andew Mitchell Plebgate affair.

Addison pleaded guilty to 11 charges. He will face an internal Scotland Yard investigation now that he has received his punishment.

District judge Howard Riddle, sentencing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, said: "Even at a time when the state has retreated to a huge extent in sexual judgment and taste and humour, these images go some way beyond what is legal in this country. These images are very unusual indeed.

"Perhaps the greatest harm is that at least some of these images were received and sent while you were working and while you were being paid by the public to carry out a very important task on behalf of the public."

Fiona Taylor, directorate of professional standards, said: "We set the highest standards for our officers. They know the law and that the sharing of obscene images is illegal.

"PC Addison has acknowledged what he did was wrong and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity."

During the course of the Plebgate investigation 14 officers have faced either a criminal or misconduct investigation into sending obscene porn via mobile phones.

Out of the four officers who were arrested, only Addison was charged. Ten further officers were subject to an internal investigation.

No further action was taken against one detective sergeant and three Diplomatic Protection Group officers. Seven othe officers remain on restricted duties pending the outcome of misconduct investigations.