Household Cavalry soldier who deliberate to rape child ‘with the assistance of mum’ jailed

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Graham Jarvis, 38, was jailed for 12 years after being convicted of two counts of attempting to arrange child sex offences against a seven-year-old girl and a baby

A sick Household Cavalry soldier who conspired to rape a young girl and a 10-month-old baby has been caged for 12 years.

Graham Jarvis, 38, made a pact with a woman he encountered online to sexually assault her children, and arranged to travel from his central London barracks to her home in Wales to carry out the crimes. But he was actually messaging an undercover police officer pretending to be the mother.

At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Jarvis was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for two counts of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence.

Judge Adam Hiddleston told Jarvis “this was not a case of fantasy on your part”, and determined that the soldier was genuine about raping the children.

“I have no doubt whatsoever at the time you made the arrangements, you believed the children were real, a seven-year-old girl and a 10-month-old baby, you wanted to meet them and when you did, with the assistance of their mother, you intended to rape them,” said the judge.

He said he read Jarvis’s messages “with horror”, saying they revealed his “cold and clinical” attitude towards the children and readiness to “treat them simply as objects to satisfy your urges”.

The judge ruled Jarvis may pose a continuing threat to children and ordered he serve at least eight years of his sentence behind bars, with two additional years on licence added to his sentence. The crimes took place in mid-January 2024, when Jarvis began communicating online with a woman who claimed she had two daughters, one a seven year old girl and the other a 10-month-old baby.

The court was told Jarvis declared he is “into girls” and started arranging a meeting, confirming he would drive from London to the woman’s address. He questioned the mother about her elder daughter’s sexual experience, and was informed she had previously been abused by two men.

Focusing on the baby, Jarvis asked the mother to assist him in carrying out the rape. Jarvis had intended to travel to Wales in February 2024, but police then intervened to arrest him.

Lisa Wilson, defending Jarvis, informed the court he was dismissed from the military following his convictions.

She stated Jarvis was “at a low ebb” due to a “traumatic period” when he committed the crimes, arguing: “The court will be asking itself why a man with an extremely positive military career found himself committing such disgusting offences.”

He has since completed a degree in animal psychology at the Open University. Jarvis, who was residing at barracks in Hyde Park, denied the charges and was found guilty at trial.

He has been ordered to serve at least two-thirds of his 12-year prison sentence.

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