A former Metropolitan Police officer, Benedict Ashton, 38, of College Road, Bromley, has been sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children. Ashton, a Special Constable at the time of his arrest, was apprehended in August 2022 following a referral from the National Crime Agency.

Ashton’s case was triggered after a Twitter user, claiming to be a 13-year-old boy, requested images of children be sent to him. Investigations traced the account, associated email address, and IP address back to Ashton. When questioned by authorities, Ashton admitted to possessing the indecent images.

Appearing at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, Ashton pleaded guilty to making eight category B indecent images of a child and 24 category C indecent images of a child.

District Judge Sarah Turnock sentenced Ashton to a six-month community order, which includes 200 hours of unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activity. Additionally, Ashton will be required to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). The SHPO will place restrictions on his internet usage and prohibits him from having unsupervised contact with individuals under 18 without approval from his supervising officer or social services.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that Ashton’s misconduct hearing took place on January 30 last year, with the outcome concluding that he would have been dismissed had he still been serving as an officer. Ashton has since been added to the College of Policing’s barred list, preventing him from serving in law enforcement in the future.

The misconduct hearing’s outcome notice was not published at the time to avoid prejudicing ongoing criminal proceedings, the Met Police spokesperson explained.