Ex-South Wales Police inspector Geraint Lloyd Evans jailed for child sex web chat
An ex-police inspector has been jailed for 30 months for conspiracy to encourage others to sexually assault a child under 13.
Geraint Lloyd Evans, 48, from Bridgend, took part in internet chatroom discussions about abuse, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Despite bravery commendations he was told he had "lived a lie" and failed in an officer's most important duty.
Evans also admitted possessing 179 images of extreme pornography.
He admitted the conspiracy offence last October, after police had arrested another man, Keith Bold, 48, from Neath Abbey, who he had been involved in chatting with online.
Police had seized Bold's computer and found indecent images of children and traced their conversations.
The court was told Bold and co-defendants Leslie Asser, 54, from Ross-on-Wye, and 50-year-old Wayne Barnes, of Morriston, Swansea, met up with Evans in internet chat rooms.
They shared their "sick and disgusting" fantasies about children as young as four, the court heard.
Bold denied encouraging and inciting others to have sex with children under the age of 13 but was convicted after a trial. The other men admitted the charge.
John Hipkin, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court, police found conversations he had had over the internet with several men using nicknames.
'Southwalescouple' was identified as Evans, who had written: "Are you interested in meeting at my friend's house in Caerphilly?"
Bold, a chartered surveyor, replied: "Yes, I think it could be cool."
Evans said: "I think we could have a great time."
Bold added: "I wish we could have some young to play with."
Evans: "That could be an option."
Evans: "My mate has some pervy mates who could oblige but only once they know you're genuine."
Asser was jailed for 30 months, and Barnes, for 27 months. Bold, who is still serving his original sentence, was jailed for an additional 18 months.
All four were banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders' register.
Evans' barrister, Tim Evans, said his life had gone downhill after he had been run over while trying to arrest car thieves and then his police car had been rammed.
He became depressed and started drinking "vast" amounts of alcohol and taking high dosages of medication until he became "a walking zombie".
He said Evans had been highly decorated and commended for bravery but had lost touch with reality.
Evans, the defence said, had lost £100,000 by being immediately sacked last September after the chief constable of south Wales told him he should have been preventing crime, not encouraging it.
Huw Rees, defending Barnes, said had been badly burned in 2001 in an explosion at Port Talbot steel works.
A colleague died and then his marriage collapsed. He then became interested in taboo subjects.
Mark Hammett, defending Asser, who had a previous conviction for indecently assaulting a child, said his client had "unresolved problems".
Judge Paul Thomas said he accepted that none of the defendants had gone on to put their fantasies into practice.
He added: "The advent of the internet has had many positive and beneficial affects on people's lives. One of the negatives is that sick minded individuals like you four can get easily in touch and fuel and encourage each other's depravity.
"You were responsible men with families but egged each other on to commit sexual acts against children. You convinced yourselves that you were not alone in your warped desires towards young children.
"What never came into the equation was the result that all this could have had on the lives of your potential victims."
Evans, he said, had been in a position of great trust and public office.
"You were a man the public ought to have looked up to. I accept you were an admirable police officer who suffered injury on more than one occasion," he said.
"But you failed in the most important aspect of your job - to protect the vulnerable.
"For several years you lived a lie, clothed in the respectability of a police officer and purporting to have moral superiority over others."
'No hiding place'
Tom Davies, from the Independent Police Commission in Wales, said: "Evans was in a position of great responsibility and trust as a police inspector which he abused.
"He indulged in criminal behaviour against children and also broke police standards of professional conduct.
"The vast majority of police officers across Wales continue to have the highest standards of integrity and will doubtless share my revulsion at Evans' actions."
Mr Davies said the case showed police officers were not above the law.
"This investigation has also shown that there is no hiding place for people who behave in this way on the internet."