Former Sussex Police officer barred for life after distributing indecent images of children

George Voisey pleaded guilty to three offences involving indecent images of a child but was spared jail. The 24-year-old was sentenced, at Lewes Crown Court, to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

Voisey was given a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will appear on the sex offenders’ register for the same period.

He must also complete 20 rehabilitation activity days and 150 hours of unpaid work.

Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings in July, Voisey was the subject of an accelerated misconduct hearing on Thursday, August 21.

A Sussex Police statement, following the hearing, read: “A former police officer convicted of distributing indecent images of children has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

“The hearing heard Voisey made 12 indecent images of children and had distributed a Category A video of a child."

The former police constable was ‘not on duty at the time of the offences’. He resigned from the force on March 1.

“Thursday’s misconduct hearing was presided over by assistant chief constable Rosie Ross, who found the allegations amounted to a breach of the standards of professional behaviour, namely discreditable conduct, and, had the officer not already resigned, they would have been dismissed without notice,” a police spokesperson said.

"Voisey has also been placed on the barred list, preventing him from serving as a police officer again.”

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Gillies, of Sussex Police’s professional standards department, said Voisey’s criminal behaviour ‘is clearly far removed from the high standards we and the public rightly expect of police officers’.

She added: “Individuals guilty of such appalling behaviour have no place in policing, and Voisey would rightly have been dismissed without notice had he remained a serving officer. It is fitting that he is also barred from serving as an officer in future.

“As a force we will continue to instil the values, ethics and behaviour our public deserves, and root out any officers whose conduct falls short of those high standards.”

An accelerated misconduct hearing is held when there is incontrovertible evidence and it is in the public interest to remove the officer from service as soon as possible, or in the case of an ex-officer, to have them placed on the barred list.