Catholic church's Plymouth 'youth protector' had child porn
A CHURCH worker whose job was to protect young people from abuse had thousands of indecent pictures of children, a court heard.
Married father-of-four Christopher Jarvis, aged 49, advised the Roman Catholic Church in Plymouth how to keep youngsters safe but had more than 4,000 pornographic images of children, Plymouth Magistrates' Court was told.
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Jarvis, who worked for the Catholic Diocese for nearly nine years, was caught when he uploaded five indecent images on to a social networking site.
Jarvis, of Salisbury Road, St Judes, admitted 12 counts of making, possessing and distributing indecent images.
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The court was told that police found 3,927 Level 1 images, 258 Level 2 images, 38 Level 3 images, 146 Level 4 images and 10 level 5 images when they searched his home and work computers on March 23. Level 1 is the least serious image and Level 5 is the most serious.
Jarvis was immediately suspended from his job as safeguarding co-ordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth and is no longer in post. It was said in court that he had access to sensitive information about vulnerable children in the Church but there was no evidence that he was directly involved in the abuse of children.
District Judge Paul Farmer ordered reports into his background before he is sentenced on August 19. He was warned his case could still be sent to Plymouth Crown Court.
Gareth Warden, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said a user of the social networking site Ning uploaded five Level 1 indecent images in June last year.
He added that monitors for the American-based site informed the police and an investigation began.
Mr Warden said Jarvis had created an account with an email address under a false name, but the account was traced to his current and former home addresses.
He added that police searched his home and found indecent images, including on the laptop he used for work.
Jodie Baker, for Jarvis, said he had been the victim of abuse. She said he was abused aged 11 by a family friend through a church social club.
Miss Baker said: "At the age of 16 or 17 he admitted to a priest that he had a homosexual encounter and he was then abused by that priest."
She added he had suffered depression and anxiety.
Miss Baker said he was married with four children but there was 'no suggestion' he had 'acted inappropriately' towards them.
She said that two suicide attempts which led to Jarvis being arrested and produced in custody were 'half-hearted' and a 'cry for help'.
The court heard he is staying with a friend in Keyham. He is of previous good character.
Mr Farmer released him on bail on condition he does not have any unsupervised contact with any child under 16.
David Pond, the independent chairman of the Plymouth Diocesan Safeguarding Commission, which oversees child protection and includes several agencies, said Jarvis had worked for the diocese as safeguarding co-ordinator since July 2002.
He said: "Mr Jarvis was suspended from his position as soon as the diocese became aware in March of the police investigation. The Bishop took that action and since then the Church has worked closely with the police. He is no longer employed by the diocese."
Jarvis's job involved advising churches and affiliated groups on child protection procedures and arranging training for workers. He also monitored offenders, including sex offenders, in churches and church groups.
DC Trevor Strike, the officer in the case, said: "At this stage there is no evidence there were any contact offences. As a force we will vigorously pursue any person who seeks to abuse children."
Comments
by dennj
Thursday, August 11 2011, 4:28AM
“the current pe-do-panic in europe reminds me of something out of a monty python skit”
by penguinface
Monday, August 08 2011, 8:22PM
“@jeffro11
not being funny mate, i was one of the people who saw the sitution from both points of view, to be honest, saying that im probably a child abuser is a completely dumb **** comment as im 15!!!
my point is that not only Christopher Jarvis will be punished for his actions, but so will his family...
so to be honest, i think you need to watch what you say pal because some of your comments are uncalled for and tbh you deserve hell for the things youve said. heartless pr***!!”
by RussellJack
Monday, August 08 2011, 7:09AM
“As people and generations become more educated and enlightened and therefore start to think for themselves instead of the brain washing they received in their formative years, religious will hopefully and eventually die out along with other similar beliefs of fairies, elves and pixies etc.
These primitive beliefs possibly have their place in history along with worshipping the sun and should take their responsibility for the hurt and deaths of mainly millions of people. Unfortunately due to Labour immigrations laws and the loss of border control will be facing another lost generation with radicals from other countries also peddling their beliefs until they see the light.”
by James__Wood
Friday, August 05 2011, 1:17PM
“JosephLocker commented "And note, the worst levels go higher than 10."
Yet again you're absolutely wrong as Level 5 is the most serious. If you can't be honest and stick to the facts or truth then shut up. This site doesn't need you peddling your lies. Check HMCS then probably the only reason you should further post on this article would be to apologise for your lies.”
by JosephLocker
Wednesday, August 03 2011, 10:10PM
“And note, the worst levels go higher than 10.”
by JosephLocker
Tuesday, August 02 2011, 8:13AM
“Im a practasing catholic? Im not some messed up bloke though am i? Im really offended by some of these comments. Its not all catholics that are *****s? For the love of god tone it down and think about what your saying? Just because im catholic that suddenly makes me a *****phile does it? How dumb are you? Christianity is the biggest religion in the world.. Only a few in a million are like this..”
by crazypenguin
Thursday, July 28 2011, 11:49PM
“Yep and this is just one reason why my kids will never be going near that brainwashing evil cult known as Christianity I was never christened and I thank my parents every day for that-my kids will have the same upbrining-I just dont trust them, if there not abusing peoples trust in ways such as the above story there warping there young minds into thinking anyone who doesnt tow the church line or belongs to a group such as homosexuals is somehow a `sinner` and deserves to go to hell(as if hell is anything but an invention to scare gullible minds into towing the line....hmm religion that controls you with fear....doesnt appeal does it?)
You know what ****es me off though? that in today's day and age with so many people in the country completely atheist or at least unbelieving of mainstream religion that the church and other religions are still tax exempt! look how much property these people `own` that they dont pay any tax on? you want to solve the nations debt crisis David just start charging the church of England the same as the going rate the rest of us pay!”
by plym1980
Thursday, July 28 2011, 6:06PM
“The people defending this adult are of the catholic church and are themselves in charge of young children(fact) I wonder if the case for defending him would be the same if it affected their careers, would they openly tell the parents of the children they are meant to protect that they are housing a paedophile, i very much doubt it. keyham is a small place and bad news travels quickly, children should be like "PETER PAN" and never have to grow up through someone else's vile actions”
by rosieljp
Thursday, July 28 2011, 4:44PM
“@jeffro11 what's with the hysteria. calm down.”
by James__Wood
Thursday, July 28 2011, 8:51AM
“abdce wrote "How can you people be so judgemental of this man? " – fairly easily he has admitted his guilt (and remember that was prompted by being caught, he did not surrender to the police and say 'I've committed a horrendous crime and I'd like to pay').
"This man was abused as a child" - bypassing the validity of this attempt at mitigation, so it's ok to feed the industry of child rape? I get mugged so I go out and burgle a few hundred houses stabbing a few victims to leave them with life long physical and mental scars.
"You people have no heart and only see things from your point of view." - Not too difficult when the point of view is common decency.
"You are just a group of selfish heartless people who have nothing better to do but comment on other peoples lives!" – I wish I/we didn't have to spend time countering the pathetic arguments posted by 3 or so people. I can only hope that the posts are from one person using several accounts.
I certainly hope that you will have the decency not to continue to post so that the people posting from the perspective of law/reason/right do not have to waste any more time.
The facts are; Jarvis has admitted his guilt and he brought all of this condemnation on himself and his family. No matter how many insidious post you make the facts won't change there is only one person to blame for all of this.”