Former top cop needed ‘different types of pornography’ to feel anything, court told

Thursday, 6 November 2025

Former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming told a colleague he needed different types of pornography to make him feel anything and it just kept escalating.

A summary of the objectionable material offences McSkimming pleaded guilty to in court on Thursday, said that when he found out in March his internet use was being investigated he spoke to two colleagues, telling one that pornography would be found on his laptop.

“He said that he had found a way around the normal Police systems to look at porn and that he grew up in a house where pornography was normal,” the summary said.

“He also spoke with another colleague and said that over the years he had needed different types of pornography to make him feel anything and it just kept escalating.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has condemned McSkimming’s crimes.of having child exploitation and bestiality material on his work devices - which Chambers described as “disgraceful”.

“The outcome shows all police, no matter their rank, are accountable to the laws that apply to us all,” Chambers said in a statement, following McSkimming’s guilty pleas to three charges of possessing objectionable material on Thursday.

“[His] behaviour was not only criminal, but goes against the core values of police.

“I will not allow this to tarnish my staff, who are as appalled by this as I am. This shameful episode has done their dedication an immense disservice. From the moment I was advised about these circumstances, I have taken it seriously and acted on it.”

McSkimming, 52, originally faced eight charges of possessing objectionable publications, four of them bestiality, three child exploitation and one with child exploitation and bestiality.

The guilty pleas were entered to three charges, one representative of child exploitation material, one of bestiality, and one overall charge.

Five other objectionable material charges were withdrawn.

Judge Tim Black convicted McSkimming and remanded him on bail to be sentenced on December 17.

McSkimming, who had been a police officer for more than 25 years, was seated in the dock through most of the hearing and his lawyer, Letizea Ord, entered the pleas on his behalf.

What the summary of facts says

A police summary said when McSkimming found out in March that his internet use was being investigated, he told one colleague that he grew up in a house where pornography was normal.

McSkimming used Google search more than 5000 times since July 2020, which was as early as records could be retrieved, and his searches often looked for artificially-generated material, but also computer generated and animation.

But there were also real images. The summary said that of the 2945 images assessed as being objectionable, 290 of them involved real children or young people.

Another 816 images were computer generated or used artificial intelligence to depict children or young people.

Another 1839 objectionable images included bestiality.

McSkimming often searched on work time using his work laptop, but primarily used his phone.

In December 2024 his internet browsing was noted as being of concern.

In a time-intensive analysis police found he had accessed 812 images involving adult bestiality and 68 images involving child sexual exploitation material. Those images formed the basis of the first and second charges McSkimming pleaded guilty to.

He had enlarged 48 of the images initially shown as “thumbnails”.

The remaining 2065 images were covered in a third charge, approximately 37% child sexual exploitation and 63% bestiality as an average. To limit police officers’ exposure to objectionable material, investigators did not analyse that group to see what images were enlarged, the summary said.

However, based on the smaller group analysed, it was estimated the defendant would have clicked on approximately 160 of the 2945.

As an example, the summary said McSkimming spent about 40 minutes, from 6.32am on July 6, 2020, browsing images.

By 8.11am he was browsing more images for about 25 minutes.

Police determined that of all his searches on his work devices over four and a half years, 1% were intended to return objectionable images, while 7% would highly likely return objectionable images.

These accounted for about 7% of his searches reasonably consistently over his work days for 4½ years, according to the summary.

‘Good riddance to him’

McSkimming left court with his lawyer, walking quickly through a small crowd of journalists and down the street. He ignored all questions from the media.

A senior police source, who is in a leadership role, said McSkimming's offending was 'horrific' and had 'ruined the reputation of the force that's been forged off good police work over the years'.

The source said they'd experienced abuse from the public as a result of the fallout of the former top cop's actions.

They said McSkimming's use of his work devices to commit the offending for 'deviant purposes' showed how 'entitled and arrogant' he was, and the restrictions imposed on internal police device use since had made their job more difficult.

'He's let everybody down. Good riddance to him.'

McSkimming’s first court appearance — via an audio visual link — was on July 3, when his name and the charges were suppressed. At his next court appearance in August he did not ask for those suppression orders to continue.

Before he was charged McSkimming had taken a civil case in the High Court to prevent reporting of the nature of the material allegedly found on his computer.

At first even the existence of the proceedings were secret but the fact of the injunction was later able to be reported and finally in July the child exploitation and bestiality nature of the material was revealed.

McSkimming was suspended from police in December 2024, and resigned in May.

In a brief statement two weeks ago the Independent Police Conduct Authority said it had finished its inquiry into the police handling of complaints against McSkimming but other aspects of its investigation were continuing.

Its report was released to a “very limited audience”, and but would not be made public due to ongoing court matters, the authority said.

An independent review into the use of police technology - initiated by Commissioner Richard Chambers in the wake of McSkimming’s resignation - has also subsequently found the current systems were “inconsistent”, “inadequate” and “insufficient”.

Chambers said as soon as he was made aware of the nature of the material found on McSkimming’s device he raised it with the Minister of Police, and ordered a rapid review of the controls and security of police devices.

“We will investigate any cases of staff found to have accessed inappropriate or objectionable material and will take action where conduct falls short of standard and expectations.

“Lastly, but most importantly, I want to acknowledge the outstanding work of more than 15,000 Police staff across the country who work day and night to help keep our country safe.”

In a statement, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he cannot comment specifically while McSkimming awaits sentencing.

“What I will say is that I am proud to support our thousands of sworn and non-sworn staff who perform acts of kindness, courage and service everyday.

“Individuals who do not uphold the values or display the integrity required to be a member of the NZ Police will be dealt with appropriately.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Jevon McSkimming’s actions were “disgraceful” and that he was “rightly being held to account for them”.

He said the advice he received when McSkimming was appointed deputy police commissioner was “completely inadequate”.

“I feel let down by that.”

He said that the vetting failed to detect any concerns.

“Had I been aware of any allegations of this nature I never would’ve proceeded with his appointment,” Hipkins said in a statement.

He urged both the police and the Public Service Commission to review their vetting process for positions of this nature.