An undercover operation to nab perverts looking for young girls on the internet led to the jailing of a West Yorkshire police constable for two-and-a-half years.
Michael Conlon, who signed on with the user name "man in uniform 69" did not release that he was chatting to a police officer online and not a 14-year-old girl.
After their initial online contact on the Face Party website on February 13, last year he progressed to a web cam link so Shelley14, as she was known, could see him on her screen and on subsequent occasions he committed sexual acts in front of the camera.
He asked if she was a virgin and told her he was "horny", but she always refused to send him pictures of herself or give him her telephone number, although he gave her his.
When he was eventually arrested in August last year Conlon was found to have made contact with a second, genuine, girl over the internet and to have arranged a meeting with the 15-year-old.
She trusted him because he told her he was a policeman, but she had not turned up at the meeting place in Knaresborough as arranged.
Hundreds of pornographic videos featuring children as young as five were also seized from Conlon's home which he had gathered over the previous two to three years.
Conlon, 33 of Primrose Hill Drive, Swillington, Leeds, resigned from the force after his arrest.
Yesterday he admitted two charges of attempting to engage in sexual activity with the younger girl, attempting to meet the other girl after grooming, and 10 charges of making or possessing indecent photographs of children. He was ordered to register on the sex offender register for life.
Sentencing him, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said: "At the time of committing these offences you were a serving police officer which inevitably aggravates these offences, firstly by reason of your knowledge not only that it was wrong, but also because you would have some knowledge and understanding of the likely effect of these offences upon potential victims."
He said Conlon also used the fact he was a police officer to ensure some measure of trust with the 15-year-old, who he admitted he would have gone on to have sexual activity with at some point had she agreed.
He also thought he was in contact with a 14-year-old, who was another police officer.
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said 326 videos were among 370 images seized from Conlon's home of which 157 were at level one, 100 at level two, 20 at level three, 48 at level four and one at level 5 which featured two naked girls aged 11-13 being whipped.
Paul Greaney, for Conlon, said he expressed shame and regret for what he had done which had not involved direct physical contact with any child.
He had ruined and devastated his life as a result, losing his career as a police officer. As a man convicted of sex offences and a former police officer a jail term for him would also be particularly unpleasant.
Conlon was a police officer for about five years, mainly stationed at Killingbeck in Leeds.
After the case a spokesman for West Yorkshire police said: "West Yorkshire Police take all allegations of this nature seriously and ensure that all offenders – whoever they may be – are brought before the courts."
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