Professor Simon Jarvis given suspended sentence

English professor and of Robinson college has been spared jail after pleading guilty to 12 counts relating to possession and distribution of child pornography.

Professor Simon Jarvis has been given a suspended 1 year jail sentence and will attend a 40 day rehabilitation course following his sentencing at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday. Jarvis pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing indecent images of children, two counts of distributing child pornography, four counts of making indecent images and one count for possession of extreme pornography.

Jarvis was arrested last September by the National Crime Agency, when a total of 1,961 indecent images of children were discovered on devices in Robinson College and other locations in the city. Evidence was also discovered of file sharing as well as use of Yahoo chat log and a Tumblr account for image storage.

An internal investigation into the incident by the university is underway, for the duration of which Professor Jarvis’ suspension will continue. He will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, banning his access to the internet and to contact with minors.

Professor Jarvis was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday

Professor Martin Millett, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, commented: “It is hard to put into words just how shocked the university community is by this type of behaviour.”

“Our thoughts are with the victims of these terrible crimes, who are created every time these images are made, viewed or shared online.”

At his hearing, judge David Farrell QC told the Jarvis: “You are an intelligent man, a professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge, and as such in my judgement you must have known that by accessing and viewing indecent images of children you were indirectly encouraging the abuse of children.

“One image is one too many, because at the root of this is the abuse of children in order to provide others with images for their perverted sexual gratification.”

Professor Jarvis was granted a lenient sentence outside of guidelines for his “sufficient prospect of rehabilitation”.