Police officer vows to ‘quit’ after paedophile avoids jail for abusing boy, 12

A paedophile who sexually assaulted a London schoolboy and had thousands of child abuse images has avoided a prison sentence, sparking outrage among officers who investigated the heinous crimes.

Recorder Maryam Syed said her sentence ‘wasn’t lenient’ as she spared Jordan Cave, 28, a former IT technician at top grammar school The Latymer School, in Edmonton, from prison time.

Instead of jail, Cave will have a four-month curfew, 200 hours of unpaid work, 20 days of rehabilitation activity, 26 sessions on a “difficult” sex offender program, a 10-year-sexual harm prevention order, and £800 in compensation to the victim.

But as the verdict was delivered, a Met Police officer shook his head and said he would ‘actually quit’ after Recorder Syed let loose the ‘despicable’ criminal.

A police officer from a specialist CSA team appeared in utter disbelief as he learned of the suspended sentence – shaking his head and holding his hand to his face, including as the judge thanked him for his work.

Officers working to combat child sexual abuse are often required to still view and scan streams of indecent images to identify victims and track down offenders.

As the officer left the courtroom, he said, ‘I will actually quit the police based on this.’

Noticing his body language, Recorder Syed said: ‘[The officer] is shaking his head, but I do recognize the hard work done by [him] and his colleagues.’

Recorder Syed said Cave’s immaturity, autism and ADHD diagnosis; his lack of offending since the sex attack; and the views of the probation service and a psychologist were the key reasons for suspending his two-year prison sentence.

The court earlier heard how Cave sexually abused the young boy over his clothes at the school and filmed the attack.

Cave’s home in Waltham Forest was searched, and his devices were seized after police noticed suspicious activity on a Dropbox account in 2022.

He claimed he had been hacked, denied being sexually interested in children, and directly told police there was ‘nothing to worry about’.

Officers found 4,000 indecent images, including 907 Category A images of real children and another 216 Category A prohibited images.

There were more than 2,700 in Category B and C. Recorder Syed told Cave his stash was ‘despicable’, including videos of boys aged between four and 11, who had been taped, handcuffed, and raped.

As well as the 10-minute video of Cave sexually abusing the boy at school, he had also written up documents detailing his account of the incident and other sexual fantasies about children.

Recorder Syed agreed the case was ‘unusual’ and said she had already decided to suspend the sentence on the recommendation of a probation officer and psychosexual specialist Victoria Appleyard, who shared concerns about ‘the impact’ of prison.

Recorder Syed said a ‘normal adult without such difficulties’ would have expected at least a four-year sentence, but this was reduced to three years due to Cave’s disorders.

For his early guilty pleas, Cave received another third off, reducing his sentence to two years. For the Category A images, he received eight months concurrent, and no separate penalty for the other offenses.

Cave will be under supervision for 12 months and must sign onto the sex offenders’ register.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.