EX-MET DETECTIVE JAILED FOR TRYING TO SEXT YOUNG GIRL IN UNDERCOVER STING
A Metropolitan Police officer from Fleet, Hampshire, Mark Collins, has been sentenced to jail after attempting to send highly sexualised messages to an individual he believed was a 13-year-old girl.Collins, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and six counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a minor.
He was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
The Old Bailey court was informed that Collins, who joined the force in 1991, thought he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl while on holiday in Malta.
During their conversations in November 2019, he sent pictures of his private parts via the Kik Messenger app and made comments about her developing body, mentioning "naughty urges" and feeling "horny." Collins later claimed these messages should be deleted.
Unbeknownst to Collins, he was speaking with an undercover officer.
He was arrested at Bromley police station on November 26.
Some of the messages were sent during his work shift, but prosecutor David Povall stated that it could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was on duty at that time.
Judge Mark Lucraft QC, sentencing Collins on Friday, described the messages as being of a "highly sexualised nature." He remarked, "It is clear many of the messages you sent are explicit, setting out what you were imagining, your sexual feelings towards her naked body.
It is clear from the content and tone that the messages were sent for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification." Following his arrest, Collins resigned from the Metropolitan Police.
During a disciplinary hearing last week, he was found to have committed gross misconduct, and the force announced he would have been dismissed if still serving.
Defense lawyer Karen Robinson stated that Collins’ actions had "no connection to his role or duties as a police officer" and called his misconduct "a spectacular fall from grace." She added, "He must live with the shame and indignity his conduct has brought upon himself and others."
