To Catch A Copper: Former Police Officer, Dave Lovell, Dismissed For Gross Misconduct Following “Revenge Porn” Investigation

Channel 4 aired “To Catch a Copper” earlier this week, dealing with the issue of image based sexual-abuse, also known as “revenge pornography”, perpetrated by a police officer employed by Avon & Somerset Police. During this episode, PC Dave Lovell was investigated for distributing intimate images of three women, without their consent.

One of the complainants was a minor at the time and during the course of the programme, we heard that she had been interested in a career within the police force and how Lovell had met her through the police cadets. His actions were described as predatory, with two women only being made aware of Lovell’s offending when they were approached by investigating officers during the course of their initial investigation.

During the programme, it became clear that Lovell had a long history of inappropriate behaviour during his employment with Avon & Somerset Police. In 2006, he was given a verbal warning for sending inappropriate images and in 2016, he was issued with a written warning for making inappropriate comments. Lovell’s female colleagues within Avon & Somerset Police were interviewed during the course of the investigation, with one stating “Dave would send every girl he came into contact with a picture of his penis” and another noting that it was a running joke that “if you were female and you hadn’t been sent a picture of Dave Lovell’s penis, then there must be something wrong with you”.

Ultimately, Lovell got away with his behaviour for years despite having been investigated five times and his misogynistic attitude being widely known within the force and amongst his colleagues. It is difficult to understand how he was able to get away with such appalling behaviour for such a long time, and why more assertive action was not taken by Somerset & Avon Police’s Professional Standards Department.

During the course of the investigation, Lovell was suspended from duty before a misconduct hearing taking place. The hearing heard that it was “difficult to overstate the harm” that Lovell had caused to the three women he had distributed images of, with Chief Constable Sarah Crew dismissing Lovell following a finding of gross misconduct, noting that his actions had also been “so serious and so injurious to public confidence”. Lovell chose not to attend the hearing.

s33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 makes it an offence to share private sexual photographs or film (1) if this is done without the consent of the individual in the images and (2) with the intention of causing distress. In terms of Lovell’s sharing of images of a minor, this would have been an offence under s1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978. Despite this, no criminal prosecution of Lovell took place as the three complainants felt unable to go through this process – something that is entirely understandable.

Instead, steps were taken to obtain a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) against Lovell. A sexual harm prevention order is an order made by the court preventing a person from engaging in a particular activity. In order to make a SHPO, a court must be satisfied that the individual presents a risk of sexual harm to the public and that to prevent or minimise this risk, such an order is necessary. In Lovell’s case, he is prohibited from a number of activities, including (but not limited to) a prohibition on unsupervised contact with any child under 18 (save for specific exceptions) and being prevented from encouraging or soliciting others to send or exchange sexual images with him.

The consequences of image-based sexual abuse are understandably devastating for those subject to such abuse. It removes all sense of agency, control of their bodies and identity, it is a complete violation of someone’s privacy. It can also be difficult to remove images once they have been distributed online, adding to the distress caused.

If you would like to speak with someone about image-based sexual abuse, please contact Olivia Coffey, a senior associate in the Civil Liberties & Human Rights team. Olivia has many years of experience in acting for survivors of sexual abuse. She can be contacted directly by emailing ocoffey@hja.net or by calling 0808 296 7694.