Child abuse images in police commissioner's safe prompt inquiry calls

There are calls for an inquiry into why a hard drive containing indecent images of children was stored in a police safe for 14 years.

The storage device belonged to ex-Lord Mayor of Leeds Neil Taggart.

Taggart, who was also a former police authority chairman, was jailed in 2017 for making and distributing indecent photographs of children.

The BBC has learned that when he left the police authority in May 2003 his hard drive was "retained and stored".

However, the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner's (PCC) office did not disclose its existence until years later.

Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson, who became the authority's chairman a month after Taggart left, said he was unaware the images existed until an employee remembered the hard drive in June 2017.

However, councillor Amanda Carter, Conservative member of West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, said: "There are extremely grave questions for the PCC to answer on this.

"This was serious criminal evidence in a high profile case which apparently remained stored and undisclosed for more than a decade.

"I hope the Police and Crime Panel will insist on this matter being thoroughly and independently reviewed so we can find out why this happened."

Mr Burns-Williamson has apologised for the "embarrassing" mistake, adding: "There's been no intentional cover-up with this.

"Of course, I'm sorry and I absolutely regret the fact that this hard drive existed and wasn't discovered until 2017."

The hard drive was found to contain six images - four unique images and two duplicates.

But no charges were brought.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the images "were of a level of seriousness" Taggart had already been convicted of, and would not have altered his sentence.

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