Perverted cop ‘betrayed the force’

A ‘sick’ pedophile and ex-police officer who was caught downloading child pornography and seeking underage girls online has been convicted of making indecent images of children.

David Mortimer, 58, worked for the Metropolitan Police for over 30 years before an undercover NCA probe led officers to seize his laptop and find a 30-minute long video of sexual abuse done to a south east Asian girl on 5 September 2019.

Mortimer initially sought to fool police by deleting the files, but then backtracked and claimed he was just ‘gathering evidence’ of child abuse when he was arrested at his home in Barnet, London on 4 July 2018.

The disgraced officer was convicted on 5 September 2019 following a four-day trial at Kingston Crown Court.

Conversations between Mortimer and other perverts found on his phone and laptop show him seeking girls as young as 14.

Brent Lyon, NCA operations manager, slammed Mortimer as a traitor of the force.

He said: ‘Mortimer and men like him are perpetuating the horrific abuse of children the world over.

‘His sick sexual interest in children fuels other offenders to carry out more and more contact abuse.

‘Behind every image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated by their abuse and men like Mortimer are directly responsible for it. ‘

‘As an ex-police officer his betrayal is all the worse.’

Mortimer is due to be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on 3 October.