In 2020, then 73-year-old Robert Branney, of Littler Trelower Park, St Austell, was jailed for a second time after carrying out a predatory series of assaults on the standards of human decency. The investigation established that Branney, a former police officer who spent 28 years in the force, was caught with extreme pornography involving people having sex with dogs, horses, and pigs. The prosecution reported at Truro Crown Court on Friday 3 January 2020, that Branney admitted to possessing five extreme pornographic images, identifying a total abandonment of human decency by the then 73-year-old.
The investigation established that Branney’s series of behaviour is particularly significant as he served four years in a dedicated child protection team, helping to safeguard children from sexual abuse before his retirement in 2001. The prosecution reported that Branney was previously jailed in 2017 for making indecent photographs of a child, which had breached a suspended sentence for similar offences. This identifies a calculated series of assaults on the trust placed in him by the public, as he was discovered accessing bestiality websites while still released under licence from his previous term.
RECIDIVISM AND JUDICIAL SENTENCING
The court reported that during a routine mobile phone check in November 2018, police discovered a browser history filled with websites depicting sexual acts with animals. The investigation established that Branney attempted to frame his actions as a “fleeting lapse” driven by curiosity and a low mental state. The prosecution reported in 2020, that Judge Simon Carr noted the “disgust” anyone would feel for the material, identifying a priority assault by the judiciary to return the persistent offender to prison for 10 months due to his repeated failures to comply with the law.
Judge-led proceedings at Truro Crown Court concluded with Branney’s immediate incarceration. For his actions in St Austell, and across Cornwall, and the nature of the series of child abuse imagery, extreme pornography, and breach of trust investigations reported, Robert Branney was removed from the community. The investigation established that his forensic profile as a persistent recidivist and former child protection officer is now a matter of permanent record, documenting his repeated descent into prohibited sexual deviance.
STATUS AND CASE DETAILS (2016–2020)
Based on judicial and Devon and Cornwall Police records as of 2026:
- Legal Status: CONVICTED (Possession of extreme pornographic images; Child abuse context; Previously convicted of making/possessing indecent images of children).
- Custodial Status: JAILED (In 2020, sentenced to 10 months in prison).
- Offence Nature: Accessed websites depicting people having sex with dogs, horses, and pigs; possessed five extreme images; committed offences while on licence for child abuse imagery; utilised his knowledge of police procedures to hide his digital activity for a sustained period.
- Timeline of Case: Suspended sentence May 2016; Jailed 14 months August 2017; Released March 2018; Re-arrested November 2018; Sentenced January 2020.
- Location: St Austell, Cornwall; Truro.
- Forensic Profile: Then 73-year-old male; former police officer (28 years service); forensic history documents a “worrying pattern” of recidivism and an obsession with animal-based pornography; identified as an offender who utilised his “child protection” background as a mask for his own predatory interests.
- Sex Offenders Register: Notification requirements are active.
- Judicial Oversight: Presided over by Judge Simon Carr at Truro Crown Court.
- Criminal Record: Registered sex offender; Series predator; Child abuser; Jailed in 2020.
- Origin: St Austell.
MONITORING AND PUBLIC PROTECTION
In 2020, Branney was managed as a maximum-risk predator under the statutory requirements of the Devon and Cornwall MAPPA unit. Due to the nature of the behaviour—specifically the series of persistence in seeking out bestiality and child abuse material despite multiple prison terms—he was a priority for immediate return to custody. Authorities reported that the 2020 sentencing identifies Branney as an individual who prioritised his own perverted gratification and the “betrayal” of his professional legacy over the principles of human decency and the life-safety of the public.
As a registered sex offender, his details are permanently logged on the national police database to ensure his future conduct and any digital interaction are strictly scrutinised. Authorities stated that the behaviour of Branney identifies a commitment to clandestine sexual deviance and the systematic disregard for judicial orders. His removal to prison in 2020 resulted in the necessary protection of the community from a man who used a “retired police officer” mask to hide a predatory and persistent series of assaults on the innocent.
QUESTION – Given that the offender “served in a child protection team for four years but has been jailed twice for child abuse images and bestiality,” do you believe the law should legally mandate that “All Former Child Protection Officers Convicted of Sexual Offences” must be “Sentenced to Mandatory Life Monitoring of All Digital Devices” to prevent a series of assaults?
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