A POLICE boss has vowed to "root out" any officer who poses a risk to the public after a former constable was found in possession of child abuse images.

Benjamin Allen, 30, was arrested after police acted on intelligence indecent images of children had been accessed at his home in Colchester.

Across a computer, a mini-disk and Allen's mobile phone, police found four still and two moving indecent images at the most serious Category A.

Also found were two still images at Category B and 113 images at Category C.

Allen, of Ipswich Road, Colchester, admitted five counts of possessing indecent images of children after initially denying the charges.

Judge Emma Peters said: "You were a police officer and at a time when the public are looking to the police, expecting them to display high standards and rightly criticising them when they don't, to find a police officer in the dock charged with such offences will no doubt trouble them."

Essex Police confirmed an accelerated misconduct hearing took place in early September.

An allegation of gross misconduct was proven and the hearing concluded Allen would have been dismissed had he not already resigned.

He was also added to the College of Policing Barred List.

Chief Constable Harrington said: “In such serious cases, it is both right and just that an officer who breaches our professional, ethical and moral standards in a way that undermines the trust that the public has in us, is dismissed.

“The public expect the highest standards of the entire police family.

"To pose such a blatant risk to the very people we are here to protect is not and never will be acceptable.

“Our job is to protect the most vulnerable members of our communities, and unquestionably, this officer’s behaviour undermined our core values.

“We will continue to root out any officer who behaves in a similar way.”

Allen, of Ipswich Road, Colchester, was sentenced to ten months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with conditions to complete a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 140 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to complete a programme designed for sex offenders, was placed on the sex offender's register for ten years and ordered to comply with a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.