Former Axminster resident and retired Met Police officer jailed after taking naked photos of 14-year-old girl

A retired Met Police officer and former Axminster resident was jailed for 18 months yesterday (Monday) for paying a 14-year-old girl to pose naked for photos and posting one of them online.

Amateur photographer Andrew Vernon, 59, formally of Cooks Lane in Axminster, now of Exeter, admitted to taking and distributing indecent images of the 14 year old, two counts of making (by downloading) indecent images of children, and one of voyeurism.

Exeter Crown Court heard how Vernon's actions had left the girl with serious psychological issues, including thoughts of suicide. It took her three years before she was able to confide in a school counsellor.

She revealed that Vernon paid her £75 for a 30 minute photo shoot in which he got her to pose topless and then fully naked.

Police also found a hoard of other images of teenage girls on his laptop and recovered images from an ammunition safe at his former home in East Devon of an adult woman in a shower, which he had filmed secretly.

In total, 441 images were recovered from his laptop and USB and SD cards hidden in the safe, including one showing an adult having sex with a child.

As well as an 18 month prison sentence, Judge David Evans ordered Vernon to sign the sex offenders' register and adjourned an application for a sexual harm prevention order.

Vernon has signed up for an online course run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to address his behaviour and is receiving counselling.