A retired Metropolitan police officer from Scotland has appeared in court accused of plotting to share more than 2500 indecent images of children with ex-colleagues. Jack Addis, from Perthshire, is alleged to have exchanged material with fellow cops Jeremy Laxton and the late Chief Inspector Richard Watkinson on a computer hard drive between January 2018 and July 2021.
The 63-year-old, who is currently in custody with the Scottish Prison Service, appeared via videolink wearing a red jumper and spoke only to confirm his identity during the brief hearing where he made no plea. Prosecutor Edward Franklin told Westminster Magistrates Court’ that some of the images allegedly discovered in the investigation were at the "highest end" of Category A.
Addis and Laxton both left the Met police over a decade ago. The retired cops were arrested after Watkinson, 49, who was a serving chief inspector for neighbourhoods policing at the Met's West Area Command Unit, was found dead in Buckinghamshire on January 12 - the same day he was due to answer bail.
