Ex-police officer jailed for sending sexually explicit messages to children.

An ex-police officer has been sentenced to 32 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to three counts of possessing indecent photographs of children and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Murray Weir, 27, an ex-police constable for Essex Police used an online messaging app to communicate with children as young as 12.

He engaged in sexually explicit conversations with them and groomed his victims in an attempt to obtain photographs and meet with them.

After executing a search warrant at his home address, police uncovered hundreds of indecent images of children stored on his phone.

He initially denied all charges but on the morning of the trial at Isleworth Crown Court changed his plea to one of guilty.

He was sentenced on 20 June 2023 at Croydon Crown Court where he was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made preventing Weir from contacting any child under the age of 18 indefinitely.

Pauline Curtis, a Senior Crown Prosecutor for the CPS said: “Murray Weir persistently contacted children online to hold sexually inappropriate conversations, request indecent images and in some instances meet up with them in person. The volume of indecent and prohibited images found at his home address indicate Weir’s deliberate and systematic searching of images portraying young children.

This case demonstrates the determination of the CPS to prosecute those who jeopardise the safety of children online and bring all those who engage in sexual offences to justice.”