Met Police: Ex-officers accused of indecent images of children plot

Jeremy Laxton (left) and Jack Addis are alleged to have exchanged material with each other on a computer hard drive

Two retired Met Police officers have appeared in court accused of a plot to share over 5,000 indecent images of children.

Jack Addis and Jeremy Laxton are accused of exchanging material with a serving chief inspector, Richard Watkinson, 49, between 2018 and 2021.

Ch Insp Watkinson was found dead on 12 January - the same day he was due to be charged.

The pair did not enter pleas when they appeared in court earlier.

Mr Addis, 63, who is from Perthshire and is in custody in Scotland, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video-link, accused of conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children.

More than 2,500 of the images were in Category A, Prosecutor Edward Franklin said, the worst kind of photos of this nature.

Mr Laxton, 62, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, is too accused of the conspiracy charge, as well as three counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

He is also charged with possessing prohibited images of a child, possessing extreme pornographic images, encouraging or assisting misconduct in public office, as well as possessing cannabis.

The pair were not asked to enter pleas at the hearing

District Judge Annabel Pilling granted Mr Laxton bail on the condition he has no contact with children apart from named family members, surrenders his passport and informs the police of any digital devices.

The two men were charged following an investigation into Ch Insp Watkinson, who was found dead in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.

His death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious and an inquest has been opened and adjourned. He had been suspended from duty following his arrest in July 2021.

Commander Jon Savell said at the time of his death: "Ch Insp Watkinson was facing extremely serious and concerning charges, as the result of a painstaking and thorough police investigation."

The case has been sent to Southwark Crown Court for a plea hearing on 9 March.