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A former police officer has been jailed for possessing more than 1,000 indecent images of children.

Darren O'Connor, who was a special constable with Warwickshire Police, downloaded and distributed images for more than a year from August 2021, police said.

He used two mobile phones to store the images which were discovered when detectives arrested O'Connor at his home in Coventry in January 2023.

O'Connor pleaded guilty to three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and two counts of distributing an indecent photograph of a child at Warwick Crown Court, the force said.

The court heard that 372 of the images were the most serious type, category A rated, Warwickshire Police said.

He resigned from his position at Nuneaton Police Station after he was arrested, however, a gross misconduct hearing found that O’Connor would have been dismissed if he had not resigned.

O'Connor was jailed for eight months, put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Det Supt Paul Thompson said: “As a serving special constable, O’Connor would have understood what he was doing was wrong."

He described O'Connor's acts as "deliberate, unforced and unlawful, and morally reprehensible".

"We welcome this conviction and hope the public can take confidence from this investigation and the commitment of police to bring these types of offenders to justice," he added.

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