Two retired Metropolitan Police officers have been charged with child sex offences during a probe.
Jack Addis, 63, of no fixed address but from Perthshire in Scotland, and Jeremy Laxton, 62, from Lincolnshire, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, February 9.
The charges followed a “lengthy and complex” investigation into Richard Watkinson, 49, who was a serving Met chief inspector for neighbourhoods policing at the West Area Command Unit.
READ MORE: Academic 'disappointed but not surprised' after losing uni sex discrimination fight
However, the inspector was found dead in Buckinghamshire on Thursday, January 12 before he could be charged.
On the same day, he was due to answer bail to be charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent photos of a child, voyeurism and two counts of misconduct in public office.
The Crown Prosecution Service had authorised charges against him.
His death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious and an inquest has opened and adjourned.
Met officers found Watkinson’s body having attended the address following welfare concerns.
He had been suspended from duty following his arrest in July 2021.
Now the 63-year-old Perthshire man, Jack Addis, has been charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children. He was arrested in November 2021.
Laxton has been charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent photos of a child, possession of prohibited images of a child, possession of extreme pornographic images and intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence (misconduct in public office). He was arrested in September 2021.
They both left the force over a decade ago.
READ MORE: 'Error of judgement' Rishi Sunak apologises for flouting law in social media clip
The alleged offences took place between January 1, 2018 and September 20, 2021.
Commander Jon Savell, said: “Chief Inspector Watkinson was facing extremely serious and concerning charges, as the result of a painstaking and thorough police investigation.
“Before this matter came to light, we had no previous information about these allegations or to indicate the officer posed any risk to the public.
“He had not faced any other criminal or conduct matters during his Met career.
“He had been suspended from duty since his arrest.
“Two other men were also arrested during the course of the investigation and have been charged, their matters will now progress through the courts.”
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel