[A] FORMER Lakes camp site manager who committed “truly shocking” online child sex crimes has been jailed for three years.
Timothy John Lovatt, 57, downloaded hundreds of illegal still and moving images showing the sexual abuse of children, including babies.
Lovatt’s criminal conduct was unearthed as Cumbria police, acting on information, visited his home and seized computer equipment.
They found more than 5,000 file names which indicated that images had been shared across the internet. “Disturbing” chatroom conversations were also found. These suggested Lovatt had contacted and even met “like-minded” others with an interest in viewing images of sexual activity of children “of the very lowest age range”.
Lovatt made full admissions to police. He confessed he didn’t mind what age the youngster was, or what sex – any naked child aroused him.
He was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today (MON) having admitted six charges. These included the downloading and distribution of illicit images, and possession of extreme animal porn pictures.
Lovatt, a former Royal Navy petty officer and ex-Windermere camp site manager, was said to be remorseful and seeking help.
But jailing Lovatt, now of West End Road, Morecambe, Judge Peter Hughes QC called his crimes “truly shocking”.
“It is only a sick and depraved mind that could obtain any pleasure from such material,” Judge Hughes told him.
Detective Constable Ryan Parker, Digital Media Investigation Unit, said: “Some of the most disturbing images of abuse that our officers have ever come across were discovered on Lovatt’s devices.
“Lovatt was proactive in his approach to distributing sickening images to other people online. His distressing chat history and behaviour depicts him as one of the more dangerous online predators.
“This sentence will hopefully act as a deterrent to those who view and distribute illegal images.
“We will continue to prosecute those who abuse children by engaging in this sort of behaviour.
“We encourage anyone who has any suspicions of any sort of abuse to contact us so we can investigate. By doing this we can continue to protect children by bringing offenders to justice.”
