Northamptonshire ex-police instructor jailed for child sex offences

Alex Foster believed he was communicating with a 15-year-old girl but it was an undercover officer

A former police safety training instructor has been jailed for two years after pleading guilty to child sex offences.

Alex Foster, 43, who worked for Northamptonshire Police, had admitted the charges at a previous hearing at Lincoln Crown Court.

He had worked for the force since 2013 and served in the Special Constabulary.

Foster was also handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register.

He resigned from Northamptonshire Police last month, the day before a gross misconduct hearing.

The force said he had been engaging in highly sexual online conversations and exchanges of images with someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl but was actually an undercover officer.

Police said the dialogue began on 27 July this year and culminated in his arrest in the car park of a takeaway in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on 10 August, where his mobile phone was seized.

On Thursday, he was sentenced for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and was handed concurrent six-month sentences for intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Foster will also be added to the College of Policing barred list, preventing future employment with the police service.

Det Insp Kim Jackson, from Northamptonshire Police, said the case "demonstrates how this force will stop at nothing to root out police officers and staff whose conduct falls below the line or, as in this case, is wholly criminal".