PM’s former-aide charged over child abuse images

Agencies

London

Patrick Rock, a former adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, has been charged with making and possessing indecent images of children, the National Crime Agency said yesterday.

Rock, 63, was appointed as a senior policy adviser to the prime minister in 2011, and served in other roles during a long career working for Cameron’s Conservative party.

The National Crime Agency said he had been charged with possessing 59 indecent images of children and three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, with the alleged offences taking place between July and August 2013. He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ court on July 3.

The images have been assessed by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) officers and CPS lawyers as meeting the definition of level C - the lowest category.

Cameron was criticised for his handling of Rock’s arrest in March with local media accusing his office of trying to cover the scandal up. “I won’t be saying anything, it will be purely a matter for the courts,” Cameron told reporters in Brussels when asked about Rock being charged.

The decision to charge Rock comes days after Cameron’s former media chief Andy Coulson was found guilty of phone-hacking charges in his previous job as editor of Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid.

Cameron was forced to issue an apology for hiring Coulson. His political opponents said the episode raised questions about his judgment, saying he had given Coulson the role to curry favour with Murdoch.

Judith Reed, a senior lawyer with the CPS organised crime division, said: “The decision to prosecute has been taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest.

“May I remind all concerned that Rock has a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

Police searched offices and computers in Downing Street as part of their investigation.

The arrest was not made public until details were published in a newspaper three weeks later.

Rock failed to win a seat in Parliament on three separate occasions in the late 1970s and early 1980s.