Shamed PC's sick sex chat with girl (13)

Published 19 May 2010 10:59

A SHAMED policeman has admitted being an internet predator and taking part in sick sexual chats with a 13-year-old Clackmannanshire girl.

Russell West (26), a highly-regarded officer with Essex Police, even spoke to the girl on MSN Messenger while at work, and believed he would never be caught.

His sordid secret was only uncovered after the girl - who can't be identified for legal reasons - went missing from home and her computer was checked by specialist IT officers from Central Scotland Police looking for clues to her whereabouts.

They analysed her chatroom conversations with West - who called himself 'Fit Essex Guy' - and found twisted conversations in which he asked the young teenager to show him pictures of various parts of her body and told her of how he wanted to have sex with her.

The Central Scotland officers also found pictures West had sent of himself to the girl, but it still took painstaking detective work to finally trace him after Essex Police failed to identify him from the photographs.

Prosecutor Derek Ogg told the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, "West is a first offender, and he has since resigned from Essex police force.

"This case came to light as a result of an extensive operation which centred on a girl who went missing. Her computer was searched and a large number of contacts on the internet were discovered - some of a very grave nature."

Mr Ogg added, "There is no suggestion that West's conversation was anything other than fantasy chat. There were no practical attempts to seek a meeting with the girl."

West used a false name to register with the online chat service and used a pay-as-you-go dongle to connect to the internet.

His sexually-explicit conversations with the 13-year-old came to light when she went missing and her computer was seized by Central Scotland Police.

Specialist IT officers analysed her online chats with Fit Essex Guy and they also discovered pictures of him. The pictures were sent to Essex Police in an attempt to trace him, but they did not recognise him.

Central Scotland officers then traced what they thought was a mobile phone number used by West, only to discover it was a dongle - a device used to provide a wireless connection to the internet.

After extensive investigations, the police discovered the shop in Essex where West regularly topped up the dongle.

They then discovered that the dongle was matched with a modem which had a unique number, and found the modem had been bought in a store in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, by West, using a credit card.

West pleaded guilty on the third day of his trial to engaging in indecent chat with the schoolgirl on internet messaging service on various occasions between 25 October 2008 and 15 April 15 2009.

He sent her pictures of himself and induced her to bare her breasts on a web camera and attempted to induce her to expose her private parts.

During the trial, DC Gary Taylor-Duncan, of Central Scotland Police, told the court of how a search warrant was obtained and that he and colleagues searched West's home in Rochford, Essex, and seized his computer.

He added that he recognised West as the man in the photographs on the girl's computer.

When West was interviewed at Stanstead police station he admitted going on fetish websites and other chatrooms, but claimed he would never have knowingly chatted to a 13-year-old.

However, during the trial, the court heard that DC Steven Inglis, an e-crime officer with the Central force, had managed to extract messages from the girl's computer.

In the transcript of the messages - much of which was read to the jury by Mr Ogg - the girl refers to herself as 13 and talks about school.

The case against West formed part of a major inquiry codenamed Operation Defender into internet sexual offences against children.

The high court heard that until he was caught, West was a highly-regarded officer and in 2008, he had been praised by the specialist crime directorate at the Metropolitan Police for information which led to the arrest of four men on firearms and drugs offences in East London.

Temporary judge Michael O'Grady placed West on the sex offenders' register. He will be sentenced next month.

10 November 2011: While the Advertiser stands by the accuracy of this article, West has insisted he did not use MSN Messenger while at work.

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This article appeared in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 30 Nov 11

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