Essex policeman held in child porn swoop
ANOTHER East Anglian police officer was today being questioned as part of a worldwide child pornography investigation.The Evening Star has learned that an Essex detective, based at Colchester, was one of six men arrested in swoops across the county early today.
By Paul Geater
ANOTHER East Anglian police officer was today being questioned as part of a worldwide child pornography investigation.
The Evening Star has learned that an Essex detective, based at Colchester, was one of six men arrested in swoops across the county early today.
He is currently being held in Braintree police station.
Essex police arrested the six men as part of Operation Perry early this morning.
Operation Perry is the Essex-based arm of the nationwide Operation Ore investigation into child pornography worldwide.
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Operation Ore is, in turn, the British arm of the FBI's Candyman operation.
Suffolk police have not so far been involved in any arrests as part of the investigation – and a spokeswoman for the force said they could not say whether there would be any similar operations here.
Two Cambridgeshire police officers who took part in the investigation into the disappearance and murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have already been arrested.
Brian Stevens – who read a lesson at the girls' memorial service at Ely Cathedral – and Anthony Goodridge were released on bail after a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court earlier this month.
And a detective from Cheshire has also been arrested as part of the same inquiry.
Today Essex police would not confirm that one of the six men arrested was one of their officers.
"We are not commenting on the profession of the men arrested because it could cause problems for further investigations," said a police spokesman.
Operation Candyman started in America, and spread around the world when details of credit card transactions were uncovered by FBI investigators.
A list of names was sent to police forces around the world and they have now started making arrests as a result of these.
