Former Peterborough detective jailed after accessing abuse images of children

A former Peterborough detective has been jailed for four years after he admitted accessing indecent images of children and sexual offences victims while on duty.

James Jordan, 32, was a detective constable working for the Child Protection and Safeguarding Unit, based at Thorpe Wood Police Station.

But rather than protect the vulnerable victims of crime he had sworn to protect, he “ran roughshod” over that trust, accessing horrific images of children as young as 18 months old being abused and tortured.

Now his career and reputation have been left in tatters after he was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on Friday.

Actions cause risk victims might not come forward

Judge Michael Roques said Jordan’s actions caused the public to mistrust the police, caused a danger that victims of offences might not come forward, and culprits go uncaught.

Judge Roques added that Jordan committed the offences while a number of high profile national cases involving police officers were going through the courts – and he knew the impact those cases were having on public’s trust of the police.

Jordan, who wore a suit and was supported by family and friends in the public gallery, showed no emotion as he was led away to start his prison sentence.

Through much of the sentencing he had his eyes closed, or looked at the floor.

Jordan had been sacked by Cambridgeshire Police in January after he admitted a string of offences.

At the misconduct hearing, chief constable Nick Dean had said that Jordan’s offending had “dented the confidence” public had in the police.

Videos hidden on computer

Matthew Sorel-Cameron, prosecuting, told the court the offences took place between February 2021 and August 2022.

The court was told he accessed phone downloads of images of adult victims, saving the ‘file pathways’ that could be accessed on his computer when connected the police system under files labelled ‘amazing places’ and ‘hotels in Greece,’ even putting stars or exclamation marks next to the videos he liked.

He also used his phone to take pictures of abuse from the phone of a young victim.

Then, in August last year, while accessing videos for legitimate purposes, he saved videos of voyuerism victims he had no right to access, onto a USB stick.

He then went into a database containing images of child abuse.

A fellow officer spotted that someone had accessed images they shouldn’t have, and an investigation was launched – which led to Jordan’s arrest shortly afterwards.

Jordan was found to have no legitimate reason to access the images, which were related to cases from across several counties.

He was arrested the following day and was further arrested on November 8 after a search of electronics taken from his home.

A search of his iPad showed he had hidden some files of the videos using encrypting apps.

‘Genuine remorse and regret’

Michael Epstein, defending, said Jordan had shown genuine remorse and regret for his actions.

He said that “on the other side of the coin” to the man who committed the offences, Jordan was a “sensitive, bright, caring, decent person,” who had shown “courage” in facing up to his offending.

He also added that as a former police officer, who had committed the offences he had done, he would face a particularly hard time in prison.

However, Judge Roques said Jordan’s breach of trust had impacted three groups of people – the victims of sexual abuse whose images he had accessed, his fellow police officers, and the general public as a whole.

He said: “It is incredibly difficult to quantify the true impact of your offending – indeed, it may well be it is never known. You were part of the Child Protection Safeguarding unit, designed to protect the most vulnerable victims.”

Judge Roques said Jordan “rode roughshod” over the trust of his victims and stripped his victims of their dignity.

The court heard the cost of the investigation to Cambridgeshire Police added up to around £400,000 – but the impact on the trust the public had in the force had decreased as a result of his offending.

Judge Roques said: “There has been hurt caused to members of the team working on your team."

He said Jordan’s actions caused ‘mistrust’ among the wider public.

He said: “The danger with cases like this is that if even a single person decides not to report what happened to them as a result of your actions, crimes are not investigated and perpetrators go free.”

Judge Roques said the law required him to give Jordan a one third discount on his jail sentence, as a result of his guilty plea at the first court hearing.

He also said he took into account his “genuine and bitter remorse."

The judge said Jordan will be released half way through his prison sentence.

Along with the jail term, Jordan will have to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, and was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Jordan pleaded guilty to five counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of misconduct in a public office at a court hearing last year.

‘Appalling abuse of position’

An NSPCC East of England spokesperson said: “Jordan’s actions were an appalling abuse of his position of trust as a police officer. Through his police training and employment, Jordan would have been very aware of the devastation that sexual abuse has on children’s lives.

“The NSPCC would encourage anyone who has experienced sexual abuse, no matter when it happened or who the perpetrator was, to speak out and seek support.”

Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111. Adults with concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child can phone the NSPCC helpline on 0808 8005000 or email [email protected]