A Scotland Yard officer who was accountable for overseeing faculties was found lifeless simply earlier than he was to face expenses for a cache of purported boy’s underwear and little one pornography found in a hid chamber.
After Richard Watkinson skipped a police station final week on the morning he was speculated to be charged, his physique was found there.
It adopted an investigation by police watchdogs and the Met that exposed the chief inspector had a secret room in his home, hidden behind a lure door, the place he reportedly stored an enormous amount of kids’s underwear, intercourse toys and pictures of kid abuse stated to be of the utmost severity.
The 49-year-old was a key officer within the Met’s west space primary command unit the place he served because the neighbourhoods portfolio lead for faculties, elevating considerations over safeguarding final night time.
Investigators didn’t uncover any proof that he had mistreated any kids, however his entry to colleges raises suspicions.
In 2021, the Unbiased Workplace for Police Conduct and the Met’s skilled requirements division started a mixed investigation. Consequently, Watkinson’s house in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, the place the one officer served because the director of a householders’ affiliation, was raided.
Investigators have been reportedly in awe of the scale of the paraphernalia, kids’s undergarments, and horrible photos found on his computer systems and cellphone there. In accordance with studies, the music was from Class A and B, the 2 most critical bands, and it featured scenes of sexual assault of kids.
On July 9, 2021, he was taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct, sending vulgar texts, abusing his place of authority as a police officer, and violating information privateness legal guidelines.
He was detained eleven days in a while suspicion of crimes such voyeurism, conspiracy to distribute pornographic photographs of kids, and misconduct in public service.
The highest officer, often called “Sir Smashy” after a Harry Enfield character, was arrested and suspended, surprising your entire police.
He had been thought of a popular and senior officer who the Met has chosen to make public statements after high-profile stings and police operations.
Specialists in prison investigations from the Met labored intently with regulation enforcement from Scotland and Lincolnshire to conduct a drawn-out and troublesome investigation into the case.
Watkinson was reportedly scheduled to seem at a police station final week to face expenses for seven offences, together with voyeurism, misconduct in public workplace, conspiracy to distribute or show an indecent {photograph} of a child, and creating indecent photos of kids.
He wasn’t there, and that set off the alarm.
Yesterday, a former coworker stated there had been points along with his entry to youngsters and acknowledged he could have dedicated suicide “as a result of all of the pressure he was below.”
They stated: ‘He was arrested a while in the past and when everybody discovered it was an enormous shock.’
Thames Valley Police stated his dying was unexplained but it surely was not thought of suspicious.