Former police sergeant admitted sexual activity with a boy and possessing indecent images.

Former Police Sergeant Jailed for Second Time for Sex Offenses

Phillip Patterson, 34, has been sentenced to six years in prison and will be a registered sex offender for life after admitting to sexual activity with a boy and possessing indecent images.

Patterson's latest offenses were discovered during a routine visit by Sussex Police in 2018 as part of his monitoring requirements. Judge David Rennie at Hove Crown Court described Patterson as "dangerous."

Patterson, of Alexandra Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, had previously served a prison sentence for possessing over 50,000 indecent images of children. He resigned from his position with the police force on the day of his arrest in 2010.

Det Con Vicky Jones stated that during the 2018 visit, officers found references to indecent material about children on Patterson's mobile phone. The phone also contained evidence of his online grooming and sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy, a relationship confirmed by the boy when he was traced.

Patterson had previously received an eight-week suspended sentence in October 2016 for breaching his sex offender notification requirements. In September 2018, he was given a 17-week custodial sentence for a further breach, which came to light during the police visit earlier that year.

In sentencing Patterson, Judge Rennie said, "Some people reach for the idiotic justification that 'they're only pictures.' In all of these pictures, a child is having their innocence destroyed. Secondly, the 13-year-old, you groomed him and led him into your dark world of paedophilic abuse. I have no hesitation in concluding that you are dangerous."