The video will start in 8 Cancel

Sign up to FREE email alerts from BirminghamLive - Black Country Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The "lenient" sentence handed to perverted former police officer Lee Bartram will not be reviewed, the Attorney General’s Office has confirmed.

Lee Bartram was given a 16-month suspended sentence after he admitted uploading indecent images and videos of children to the internet and misconduct in a public office.

Investigators traced the images back to Bartram, and he was arrested on August 13 last year at his home on Bustleholme Lane, West Bromwich .

After the 44-year-old was suspended at Wolverhampton Crown Court last month, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Dave Thompson voiced his disapproval and called for an appeal.

He said: “Lee Bartram was sentenced to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years, having been convicted of possessing indecent images of children and misconduct in a public office.

(Image: West Midlands Police)

“The public expect the protection of the police and do not expect officers to break the law.

"This case is very serious and the sentence, in my view, is too lenient for such crimes.

“ West Midlands Police officers are discussing the sentencing decision with the Crown Prosecution Service and the subject of an appeal against his sentence."

However, after "careful consideration", the Solicitor General has concluded the case could not be referred to the Court of Appeal, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

A spokesman told Black Country Live : “A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

"The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.”