In March 2014 it was discovered that Rock had been arrested on suspicion of an offence relating to child pornography.
Rock was charged, in June 2014, with three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child in August 2013. He was also charged with possession of 59 indecent images of children.
In December 2014 he pleaded not guilty to six charges of making indecent photographs of children aged between 10 and 13 and one charge of possessing 56 indecent images of children aged between 10 and 14.
He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Friday the 16th October 2015, where Judge Alistair McCreath ... granted Patrick Rock bail until trial date on the 30May 2016.
He admitted downloading images of 20 young girls, but denied that they were indecent. The images showed the girls in sexualised poses, in bikinis or bras, but not engaged in sexual activity.
On the 1st of June 2016 he was found guilty of possessing and downloading indecent images of children. He was acquitted of 3 charges, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on 12 charges. He was given a two-year conditional discharge, the judge saying that his punishment for the offence was "his very public humiliation".
Commenting in the Daily Telegraph, Joan Smith (journalist) pointed out that his youngest victim, now 10, would have been even younger 2 years ago when the offences were committed and that his government duties had included devising policies to make the internet safer for children. Smith expressed astonishment that Rock would not spend a single night in prison and said his upper class status protected him.
Rock had previously been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours, which was subsequently revoked in 2017.