Crime agency officer had indecent images of children

Adam Taylor was a "grade five intelligence officer" in the NCA and had access to the dark web

A former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer has pleaded guilty to viewing indecent images of children on his work computer.

Adam Taylor admitted two counts of misconduct in a public office, three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Some 221 images were deemed to be category A - the highest category of seriousness.

The 40-year-old, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, was warned by the judge he was likely to be jailed at his sentencing hearing on 2 August.

Southwark Crown Court in London heard that Taylor was "enabled" by his role as a "grade five intelligence officer" in the NCA to access the dark web, although he was not required by his work to view such images.

Investigators also found hundreds of category B and C images on his computer.

The offences took place between March 2019 and April 2022.

The court heard he had been dismissed by the NCA for gross misconduct.

'Vulnerable child'

Taylor was bailed unconditionally ahead of his sentencing hearing.

Judge Cole told him: "As you well know, this is a very serious batch of offences and the likely sentence is immediate custody."

NCA director general of operations Rob Jones said the NCA was "shocked an saddened" that an officer had committed such crimes.

"The NCA is at the forefront of tackling online child abuse and it is vital that we identify and root out anybody within the agency involved in this or any other criminal activity," he said.

"It was other NCA officers, working diligently and covertly to protect the public, who were responsible for bringing him to justice.

"Behind each of those images recovered from Taylor's devices was a vulnerable child who had been abused."