June 2005 Pervert PC jailed for child porn An Enfield police officer is behind bars today after admitting possession of nearly 1,000 child porn images on his home computer. PC Paul Arnold, 32, of St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green, surfed the web for snaps of young schoolgirls and swapped the sickening images with other perverts via e-mail. He was jailed for six months at Southwark Crown Court on Monday after admitting seven counts of making, possessing and distributing indecent photographs. The married officer, who had been in the force for nine years, was once commended by the Met Commissioner for bravery after he disarmed a knife-wielding crook. Scotland Yard’s Paedophile Unit was tipped off after police in the West Midlands discovered his e-mail details on a computer during a raid on the home of a sex offender in January. After the arrest of Arnold on March 24, a total of 957 images were retrieved from his computer, mainly of girls aged between eight and 12. The court heard 848 were of youngsters in erotic poses, while 77 showed sickening pictures of children being forced into sex acts with adult men. Five of the pictures were at the top level of seriousness as they involved images depicting sadism. Arnold resigned after his activities were revealed. At first he claimed he would use the computer to search for adult porn, but later admitted he was interested in pictures of teenage girls. Jonathan Davies, defending, said Arnold’s excellent’ career had been ruined by his internet activities. Mr Davies said: “He has made a terrible mistake. He is full of remorse. “He has lost the job he loved and it seems he was very good at it. He is embarrassed, devastated and will not do it again.” Jailing Arnold, Judge Andrew Goymer said: “Every time one of these images is produced, a child somewhere is being abused or exploited, a child is having a normal childhood damaged.” He added: “It is wrong if the public gets the impression a police constable can expect a preferential sentence if he breaks the law. “The message has got to be sent out that the courts will deal seriously with those who continue to allow this unpleasant and revolting pornography to continue to proliferate.” Arnold was also ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.