Yorkshire police officer caught with indecent images of children is sacked

Police constable Alan Dudzinski, 20, was given a suspended prison sentence at Durham Crown Court in April, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

The officer was based in Leeds and suspended after he was arrested in May 2021, shortly after he finished his training.

West Yorkshire Police said the officer was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed from the force without notice, following a misconduct hearing on June 21.

In a statement, the force said: “Chief Constable John Robins found the allegation proven and dismissed PC Dudzinski without notice.”

During a hearing at Leeds Crown Court in March, Matthew Burdon, prosecuting, said 125 indecent images and videos of young girls and boys were discovered on the officer’s phone and computer.

He also said there was evidence of “a large number of search terms indicating a sexual interest in children”.

Forty six of the images were category A – the most serious – and they depicted girls as young as six being abused. Officers found another 41 category B images, 34 at category C images, featuring victims as young as three, and four images depicting beasitality.

Bo-Eun Jung, who represented the officer, said he was “genuinely remorseful for his actions” but a prison sentence “would not address the underlying causes of his offending behaviour”.

At Durham Crown Court in April, Judge Ray Singh imposed an eight-month prison sentence – suspended for two years – and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

He also imposed a four-month curfew, which will be monitored by an electronic tag, and ordered Dudzinski to complete a rehabilitation programme.

The judge said an “appropriate punishment can be achieved without an immediate sentence”, as the officer had no previous convictions and he posed a relatively low risk to the public.

He said: “At the time you accessed this material, whilst not at work or having anything to do with your work commitments, you were employed as a police constable with West Yorkshire Police.

“The general public will no doubt look at the offences, your occupation and the disrepute it brings to the profession.”