Graham Jarvis, then aged 38, a Household Cavalry soldier stationed at Hyde Park Barracks in central London, has been handed an extended sentence of 14 years at Southwark Crown Court after plotting to travel to Wales to rape a young girl and a 10-month-old baby.
The sentencing marks the conclusion of an undercover operation conducted by police after Jarvis established contact online in January 2024 with what he believed to be a mother living in Wales with two young daughters, aged seven and 10 months.
The court heard that Jarvis informed the woman he was attracted to young girls and actively negotiated a meeting to sexually abuse both children.
During the exchanges, Jarvis asked detailed questions regarding the older girl’s sexual history and explicitly instructed the supposed mother to assist him in carrying out the rape of the 10-month-old infant.
Unbeknown to Jarvis, the online persona was operated by an undercover police officer.
Detectives moved in and arrested Jarvis in February 2024 as he was making plans to travel from his central London military base to the address in Wales.
Jarvis denied the charges, maintaining that the conversations were merely online roleplay and fantasy.
Following a Crown Court trial, a jury dismissed his claims and found him guilty of:
Two counts of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence
Following the guilty verdicts, Jarvis was formally discharged from service in the British Army.
At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Judge Adam Hiddleston firmly rejected the defence’s submissions, stating that this was not a case of fantasy and that Jarvis genuinely believed the children existed.
The judge remarked that the messages revealed a cold and clinical disposition, treating children purely as objects to gratify his impulses, and concluded that Jarvis had intended to carry out the rapes.
Assessing Jarvis as posing a serious, ongoing risk of harm to children, Judge Hiddleston imposed an extended determinate sentence comprising a 12-year custodial term with an extended licence period of two years, bringing the total sentence to 14 years.
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing extended determinate sentences for serious sexual offences, Jarvis is not entitled to automatic early release. He is required to serve at least two-thirds (eight years / 96 months) of his 12-year custodial term in prison custody before becoming eligible to apply to the Parole Board for release on licence. If approved for release, Jarvis will serve the remainder of the sentence under strict probation supervision in the community until the expiration of the full 14-year sentence.
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