The police officer who helped the father of missing Claudia Lawrence is facing jail after pleading guilty to child sex offences.
Paul Beckwith, 53, admitted three counts of having indecent images of children and five counts of voyeurism at York Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The disgraced officer was suspended from duty after being arrested last November, having served with North Yorkshire Police for 33 years.
This included supporting Peter Lawrence by acting as their family liaison officer when he appealed for information about Peter’s daughter Claudia, 35, five days after she vanished on March 18 2009.
Claudia – who was a chef for the University of York – disappeared from her home in Heworth, York, and has never since been found.
Her last known contact was a phone call with her mother the same night.
Police believe she was murdered.
The court heard the offences were not committed while Beckwith was on duty as a police officer.
Officers found he had a stash of indecent images of children – eleven of which were of the most serious category A.
Two of the indecent images were category B and nine were category C.
Prosecutor Sarah Tyrer said the voyeurism charges demonstrated a ‘substantial breach of trust’ from Beckwith, who had no previous convictions.
Beckwith, of York, wore a dark suit and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during the hearing.
He was released on conditional bail and will be sentenced at York Crown Court on November 19.
Beckwith was also North Yorkshire Police’s first drone operator.
He previously worked as a police family liaison officer for North Yorkshire Police and as a neighbourhood police officer in Holgate.
North Yorkshire Police said Beckwith was ‘immediately suspended from duties’ after he was arrested.
