'Wicked' ex-cop who planned to sexually abuse & 'train' girl, 5, snared at Endcliffe Park, Sheffield
A predatory former police officer who planned to sexually abuse and train a five-year-old girl ‘like an animal’ was swooped on by police at a Sheffield park - where he had hoped to meet the girl with her dad.
After police arrested Jared Lamb at Endcliffe Park at the conclusion of an undercover sting operation by South Yorkshire Police’s Internet Sexual Offences Team, the 46-year-old was found with a bottle of lubrication, a bottle of Bio-Oil, a laptop, mobile phone and a packet of jelly beans.
Prosecutor, Aaron Dinnes told the court that Lamb had planned to use the sweets to make the girl ‘feel at ease,’ while the purpose of the laptop was to show her pornography, as part of his intended campaign to ‘normalise’ the sexual acts he hoped to subject her to.
Lamb revealed his sick abuse plan to a man using the name ‘Tom’ with whom he had been communicating online, and the person he believed was the father of the girl he intended to abuse.
‘Tom’ was, in fact, an undercover police officer, and the girl did not exist, Sheffield Crown Court was told during a hearing held on November 1, 2024.
Jailing Lamb, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, described the case as ‘one of the worst of its kind’ and branded Lamb a ‘thoroughly wicked individual’.
“You clearly harbour lusts towards very young children,” Judge Richardson told Lamb, who appeared emotionless throughout the course of the two-hour hearing.
Judge Richardson continued: “You intended exceptionally serious, indeed egregious and grotesque sexual assault of a five-year-old girl. You took paraphernalia to execute those comprehensively perverted acts. Your intention was to debauch a very young child.”
“The harm you intended was extreme. I’ve no doubt that if the five-year-old child had been real, you would have perpetrated appalling sexual crimes against her.”
Mr Dinnes described how during the course of a six-week period in June and July 2024, Lamb went into extensive detail about how he not only wanted to sexually abuse the girl, but how he wanted to train her, as one would ‘an animal,’ with a view to conditioning her to make her believe she ‘enjoyed’ the sexual abuse.
When discussing how he wanted to ‘control and manipulate’ the girl, Lamb referred to ‘Pavlov’s dog,’ a famous experiment on dogs which formed the basis of the theory of classic conditioning, explaining how neutral stimuli can be associated with positive stimuli.
Judge Richardson told Lamb: “You referred to her as an animal. You wished to instil what you incorrectly described as Pavlov’s dog responses.”
Mr Dinnes told the court that Lamb sent ‘Tom’ numerous indecent images of young girls being sexually abused. One such image showed a girl aged between seven and eight-years-old wearing a ‘leash’ and with her ‘wrists and feet bound,’ and Lamb described how he planned to show the image to Tom’s daughter, as part of the grooming process.
Lamb also indicated that he wanted to ‘recruit’ two other males, along with him and Tom, to abuse the girl, and said he believed he had found one of the males, the court heard.
Lamb said he had been communicating with the male, who, he said, had a pregnant partner; and detailed how they both intended to abuse the baby, should it be the ‘right gender’.
In addition, Lamb also described planning further sexual abuse with a ‘heterosexual couple’ who have an 11-year-old daughter.
The court heard how Lamb served as a police officer between 2009 and 2011, and on numerous occasions during his communication with ‘Tom,’ Lamb was at ‘great pains’ to describe the myriad of measures he should take to avoid detection by law enforcement agencies, such as using a VPN (virtual private network), turning off his WiFi when viewing indecent images of children.
He also described how, after viewing indecent images of children he deleted ones he believed to be illegal, and said he intended to leave his mobile phone at home when they met in person.
“I have little doubt this stemmed from your experience and knowledge of how matters proceed while you were in the police,” Judge Richardson told Lamb.
Following his arrest, Lamb was charged with two counts of attempting to arrange/ facilitate the commission of child sex offence, and three counts of distributing an indecent photograph/ pseudo-photograph of a child, all of which he pleaded guilty to at an earlier hearing.
Defending, Dermot Hughes said Lamb’s best point of mitigation was his early guilty pleas.
He told the court that Lamb is a ‘deeply religious man’ who had enjoyed a ‘leading’ role within the Mormon church, until he was ‘ex-communicated’.
“That had a profound effect on him, and so all of the structures he had in his life were taken away from him,” Mr Hughes said, adding that this led to Lamb’s problems being ‘compounded’ and in part ‘gave rise’ to a deterioration in his mental health.
Mr Hughes continued by telling the court that Lamb, who concealed his offending from his wife, children and grandchildren, is ‘deeply ashamed of what he did’.
He suggested that Lamb, of Brookwood Way, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, Lancashire, had previously served the public through his role with the police force, and wishes to do so again upon completing degree courses in maths and physics, which he hopes to do during his time in prison.
Handing Lamb an 11-year sentence, comprising five years’ imprisonment and a six year extended licence, Judge Richardson told him: “I’ve come to the conclusion that severe punishment is demanded in this case.”
Judge Richardson told the court that the protection of the public was at the forefront of his mind, and referred to the conclusions of Lamb’s pre-sentence report which suggested he posed a ‘high-risk’ to infant females.
Consequently, Judge Richardson said he had deemed Lamb to be a ‘dangerous offender’ and an extended sentence is therefore needed to try and prevent him from further sexual offending.
Lamb was also told he must remain on the sex offenders’ register for life, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, which will remain in place ‘indefinitely’.