Metropolitan Police officer charged with sexually abusing children

Alleged paedophile has been suspended from work with specialist crime and operations unit

Charges come after another police officer was sacked for making indecent images of children (Getty)

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been accused of sexual offences against children.

PC Daniel Cooper, 31, works in the specialist crime and operations unit of the UK’s largest police force.

The alleged paedophile has been charged with 16 offences namely – four of gross indecency, four of indecent assault, two of sexually touching a child, five of possessing indecent images and one of sexual activity in front of a child.

“PC Cooper was not on duty at the time of the alleged offences,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said. “PC Cooper is suspended from duty.”

A spokesperson said he was charged by officers from Scotland Yard’s child abuse and sexual offences command and is due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on 19 October.

The force’s directorate of professional standards has been informed and will decide whether to dismiss the officer, who was arrested in May 2016.

Several officers have been disciplined or dismissed by the UK’s biggest force in recent months, including for assault, passing on offenders’ personal details, perverting the course of justice, criminal damage and misconduct in public office.

Another PC, Grant Thomas, was dismissed after admitting to making, distributing and possessing indecent images of children.