PC Avi Maharaj Hayes Sex Offender
PC Avi Maharaj Hayes Sex Offender

A police officer sex offender, PC Avi Maharaj, who purchased pornography at the residence of a deceased child has been sentenced to 12 months in prison.

On 11 February 2018, PC Avi Maharaj was assigned to secure the residence while the family was receiving support elsewhere following the suicide of their 14-year-old son.

Avi Maharaj deduced the password for the Virgin Media household account and downloaded four pornographic films.

He received his sentence at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

Avi Maharaj, 44, of Kingswood Place, Hayes, had earlier admitted to committing fraud.

The family initially believed their son had downloaded the clips before recognising that Maharaj was accountable.

During sentencing, Judge Deborah Taylor stated that while the boy’s parents were mourning elsewhere, he bore the burden of safeguarding the residence.

“Instead of performing that duty with respect and professionalism, you took it upon yourself to guess the password to the household Virgin Media account, to act as if you were the account holder, and use it to purchase, download and view four pornography films.”

The judge added the family were “vulnerable, traumatised by the loss of their son, and trusted you to guard their house” and his actions had led to a “false understanding of their son’s last hours”.

“All right-thinking people would be appalled by your gross lack of decency and respect in indulging yourself at all in those circumstances, let alone deviously, and at the expense of the bereaved parents.”

Pc Avi Maharaj was supposed to be waiting for the undertaker to take the body away when he downloaded pornography worth £25.96.

He then falsified his attendance logs, claiming he left the property in Littleton Street almost two hours earlier than he really did as part of a bid to cover up his actions, the court heard.

In a letter, the boy’s father, Graham Miller, said Maharaj’s actions had initially “upset” his image of his son, adding it “made me feel like I didn’t know my own son”.

The boy’s father only realised his son was not responsible for the downloads when he contacted Virgin Media and was told what time the clips were downloaded.

Avi Maharaj, who was based in Earlsfield, Wandsworth, initially denied the allegations when interviewed by police, the court heard.

“He provided officers with a prepared statement in which he denied the allegation and questioned security of the premises,” Prosecutor Gregor McKinley said.

Edmund Gritt, representing Avi Maharaj, said the defendant “expressed his wholly ashamed apologies to the Miller family”.

Avi Maharaj pleaded guilty to fraud at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July

Mr Gritt told the court that Maharaj’s guilty plea would “terminate” his police career “forever”.

He added it was “inevitable” he would be dismissed.

The Met officer’s conviction follows a complaint from a member of the child’s family, which led to an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The IOPC’s regional director Sal Naseem described PC Avi Maharaj’s behaviour as “shocking” and “deceitful”, adding that he “caused considerable distress for the family involved who were dealing with the sudden death of a family member”.


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