A policeman has been jailed for 22 months, 12 suspended, by judges in Rotterdam for possessing a large amount of child pornography.

In addition, the man, named as Bas S, was guilty of filming his nieces as they came out of the shower and got dressed. The girls were 13 and 15 at the time, which makes him guilty of making child pornography, the judges said.

S was also found guilty of abusing the powers of his office by seeking to contact women who had reported crimes to the police, with the aim of having sex with them. ‘A police officer should be totally above reproach,’ the court is quoted as saying by RTL news.

The public prosecutor had called for a 36-month jail term, 12 months suspended. The court opted for a lower sentence after being told that S had been abused by a neighbour when he was 13 years old. ‘This had an impact on the rest of his life,’ the court said.

S, who has had psychiatric help and burst into tears several times during the trial, was not in court to hear the verdict, RTL says.