Former Metropolitan Police officer sentenced for making indecent images of children

Grant Thomas, 40, was sacked from force after admitting offences

Former police officer Grant Thomas, who has been sentenced for making indecent images of children (Metropolitan Police)

A former Metropolitan Police officer has been handed two suspended jail terms for making, sharing and possessing indecent images of children.

Grant Thomas, 40, was a police constable with the force’s training division before admitting the offences and being sacked at a misconduct hearing.

He pleaded guilty to two separate indictments – one on three counts of making indecent images of children and publishing an obscene article, and another on two counts of distributing the images, two counts of making them and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.

At a hearing on Friday, a judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment for the first indictment and two years for the second, with both suspended for two years.

Thomas was also handed a 60-day rehabilitation order and placed on the sex offenders register for a decade.

The court heard his images ranged between the most serious category, which includes penetrative sexual activity, bestiality and sadism, and the least severe.

He was arrested in March and formally dismissed at a misconduct hearing following his admission of guilt in June.

Patricia Gallan, the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: “The public have a right to expect their officers to maintain the highest standards and to uphold rather than break the law.

“An officer behaving as this constable did undermines public confidence. Despite his admissions there is no longer a place for him within the organisation.”