Metropolitan police officer from Fleet jailed for tying send 'highly sexualised' messages to underage girl.

A Metropolitan Police officer from Fleet, Hampshire, who attempted to send "highly sexualized" messages to what he believed was a 13-year-old girl, has been jailed after being caught in an undercover sting.

Detective Constable Mark Collins, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and six counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child. He was sentenced to over two years in prison.

The Old Bailey heard that Collins, while on holiday in Malta, believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl when he sent pictures of his genitals through the Kik Messenger app. In November 2019, he made comments about her "body developing" and discussed "naughty urges" and "being horny," urging the recipient to delete the messages.

However, Collins, who joined the force in 1991, was actually communicating with an undercover officer. He was arrested at work in Bromley police station on November 26.

The court was informed that some of the messages were sent while Collins' shift pattern indicated he was on duty. Prosecutor David Povall stated that it couldn't be definitively proven to the criminal standard.

Sentencing Collins to two years and four months in prison on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft QC described the messages as being of a "highly sexualized nature."

"It is clear many of the messages you sent are explicit, setting out what you were imagining, your sexual feelings towards her naked body," the judge told Collins. "It is clear from the content and tone that the messages were sent for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification."

Collins, who resigned from the Met after his arrest, was found to have committed gross misconduct at a disciplinary hearing last week. The force stated he would have been dismissed if he were still a serving officer.

Karen Robinson, defending Collins, stated that the father-of-two's offense had "no connection to his role or his duties as a police officer."

"It is, for someone who held his position, a spectacular fall from grace," she said. "He must live with the shame and indignity his conduct has brought upon himself and others."