Paedophile Leeds police officer who paid children for sex pics avoids custody
He spoke to youngsters as young as 12 online
A paedophile police officer who paid children to send him photographs of themselves has avoided being locked up.
Zachary Haile, who is from the Wakefield area but worked for West Yorkshire Police in Leeds, also had more than 80 images stored on phones depicting children as young as four being raped.
He was arrested after an Instagram account was found to have received a child-abuse image. It was connected to an IP address at Haile’s home.
The 27-year-old was arrested and three phones seized for analysis.
Officers found 47 images in Category A - the most serious involving the rape of children. There was also 10 in Category B and 24 in Category C.
The children were aged between four and eight, with prosecutor Ciara Church telling Leeds Crown Court this afternoon that it showed some of the victims in “visible distress”.
However, investigating officers found messages on Snapchat from December 2018 between Haile and a girl who said she was 13.
He made comments on her body, telling her she was “cute” and pleaded with her to send photos of herself nude or in her underwear.
Further conversations were found with children aged between 12 and 15, but who were not identified. Haile had engaged in sexualised talk with them and again asked for photos in exchange for money. There was evidence he paid one a sum of £5.
Haile was arrested in July 2022 and in two subsequent interviews denied wrongdoing. Haile, of Hawthorne Terrace, Ossett, resigned from West Yorkshire Police while under investigation, later being dismissed for gross misconduct at a police hearing.
The court was told that Haile went on to make six payments to the first girl’s account of £20 and £30 in June and July, 2023, by which time she was 16 or 17.
Mitigating, Sean Smith said Haile had already completed the Safer Lives sex-offender course under his own volition.
He said Haile, who was only 19 at the start of his offending, could be dealt with by way of a community order.
The judge, Recorder Simon Jackson KC told Haile: “You have lost your career as a police officer by these admissions of these serious offences.”
He acknowledged the work he had done, and that he had “insight” into the distress such abuse causes.
He gave him a 24-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, with a probation requirement and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to curb his internet use.
He was also put on the sex offender register for 10 years.
Speaking previously, Detective Chief Superintendent Tanya Wilkins, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, said: “Clearly any suggestion that a police officer has been linked to offences involving children is treated with the utmost seriousness. We took immediate action to arrest and suspend Haile.
“He had actually only joined West Yorkshire Police two months before his arrest and was therefore very new in service when he was removed from duty.
“A misconduct hearing was held while Haile was still under investigation for these criminal matters and it was found that he would have been dismissed had he not already resigned. It is clear that he is not fit to wear the uniform.”