Paedophile officer is booted out of force Police inspector is sacked for gross misconduct
DISGRACED police inspector Lee Bartram, who made and distributed more than 300 indecent images of children, has been kicked out of West Midlands Police.
Bartram, 44, was sacked without notice for gross misconduct following a misconduct hearing which heard how he had caused “horror and disgust” by his actions.
The brief hearing ruled there was “no place” for an officer of his type within the force.
Last month he pleaded guilty at Walsall Magistrates’ Court to five counts of making indecent images of a child and two counts of distributing similar images.
At the misconduct hearing, held at Lloyd House in Birmingham, Chief Constable Dave Thompson said: “Inspector Bartram held a high-profile role and was a well-regarded officer.
“The shock caused by these offences to his colleagues in West Midlands Police is high. The higher.
“The police rely on the public for their trust to carry out their valuable role. The most vulnerable should always feel safe with the police.
“The indisputable fact in this case is that Inspector Bartram has undermined that very confidence in the police.”
Mr Thompson, who chaired the misconduct hearing, dismissed Bartram from the force.
The police chief said: “There’s no such place for an officer with this type of behaviour and standards in West Midlands Police.
“The officer is dismissed without notice, having brought a huge amount of disapproval and discredit to West Midlands Police.”
Bartram, whose address was not given, did not attend the hearing and no representations were made on his behalf by the Police Federation.
Chief Inspector Yvonne Bruton, for the prosecuting authority, gave a brief outline horror and disgust is even of the facts in the case before the decision was announced.
“Offences of this nature clearly amount to a case of gross misconduct,” she said. “Therefore I would ask you to consider it is in the public interest that the officer ceases to be a police officer without delay.”
Bartram filmed a teenager who was sunbathing and one of the children in the images he made and distributed was aged just six.
At the court case last month, prosecutor Mark Cooper said some of the films had a “commentary” from the officer “as to what he would like to do” with the children.
In one of the films, he was recorded “blaming the parents” of a child because of the way the youngster was dressed.
The charges, spanning a period between August 2013 and August this year, relate to a total of 328 images, including some found on an iPad and an iPhone.
Bartram will be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court this Thursday (September 13).