Former Avon and Somerset Police officer handed Sexual Risk Order
PC Dave Lovell was also found to have posted explicit images of women online without their consent
A former Avon and Somerset Police officer, who had sex with a colleague in a police station while on duty, has been handed a Sexual Risk Order by magistrates.
He was dismissed by Chief Constable Sarah Crew earlier this year following an accelerated misconduct hearing.
The order prevents 46-year-old David Lovell from causing 'any further harm to the public' after being dismissed from the force.
Lovell, who was based in Somerset, was dismissed without notice following an investigation carried out by the police's Counter Corruption Unit, which began in May 2021 when a woman got in touch with police that intimate images had been posted on a website, telling investigators that whilst the images shared were consensual, she'd never given him permission to share them online.
He had posted them without her consent or knowledge.
Police then launched an investigation, with those looking into the case later discovering that intimate images of two other women had also been posted online by him. The women were identified and proactively contacted.
All three women stated they didn’t wish to proceed with a criminal complaint but were willing to support the misconduct process, on the basis they would be given anonymity.
Lovell faced his misconduct hearing back in May for the offences, and was added to the national barred list - meaning he's not allowed to join any police force or law enforcement agency again.
The Sexual Risk Order was granted at a hearing held in North Somerset Magistrates' Court on June 26.
Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the order will last for seven years and places 'specified conditions', which Lovell must now follow, including:
- No unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 18, except in strict circumstances outlined in the order
- Not to undertake employment likely to cause him to have unsupervised contact with under 18s
- Restrictions on his use of computers or devices capable of accessing the internet – including a ban on using any false or proxy name/alias online
- Not to possess any device capable of storing digital images, except in strict circumstances outlined in the order
- Not to invite or request others to provide/exchange sexual images of themselves with him, or others
- Not to share or distribute still or moving images of others in his possession, with a third party or in a public domain, without written consent
- Not to refuse/fail to remove or delete any still or moving images of a person taken, created, produced or possessed by him and over which he has direct control, upon the request of the person concerned
Head of Professional Standards, Supt Mark Edgington, said: “This former officer abused the confidence placed in him by the complainants in the most distressing of ways.
“The misconduct process saw him dismissed from our police service and prevented from holding another role in policing or law enforcement, but due to the nature of the proven allegations it’s vital we protect the public from his sexualised, predatory and exploitative behaviour.
“The Sexual Risk Order will place a series of strict and prohibitive measures on him designed to stop and prevent him from causing any further harm or distress. A breach of the order is a criminal offence for which the maximum penalty on conviction is a five-year prison sentence.
“We take our responsibilities to keep the public safe extremely seriously and taking this action was both necessary and proportionate in this case.”
Read more: Avon and Somerset Police officer sacked for sex in station