A FORMER Special Constable and North Yorkshire Police employee has been sentenced at York Crown Court for a series of child sex offences.

Ryan John McCaffrey, who served as a Special for North Yorkshire Police and also worked for the force as a staff member, pleaded guilty to eight offences - six counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possession of prohibited images of children, and one count of possession of extreme pornography.

The crimes were committed between June 2018 and June 2019, and McCaffrey, of Catterick Garrison, received a 12 months suspended sentence, a five year sexual harm prevention order and a 40 days rehabilitation order, said a spokesperson.

“Child sexual offences causes grave harm to innocent victims," they said.

"Behind every indecent image is a child who has suffered abuse and exploitation and the making, possession or sharing of these images is the most abhorrent of crimes.

“McCaffrey has also let down the policing family. Nothing short of the highest integrity is tolerated in North Yorkshire Police and those who commit crimes of this nature, no matter who they are, will always be pursued and put in front of the courts.”