Update 17th May – A new section has been added following an email sent by the Faculty of English to students.

Professor Simon Jarvis, who admitted to possessing and distributing thousands of indecent images of children, was spared imprisonment at Cambridge Crown Court today.

Jarvis, who was Gorley Putt Professor of Poetry and Poetics at the Faculty of English, pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including one count of possessing extreme pornography, two of distributing indecent images, and five of possessing prohibited images.

Judge David Farrell handed the professor a 12-month jail term suspended for two years, and ordered him to attend a 40-day programme of rehabilitation.

The judge claimed that he suspended Jarvis’ jail term for two years, contrary to sentencing guidelines, because “there’s a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation”.

Jarvis was first arrested in September 2016, after images were found on various devices at  Robinson College and other locations around Cambridge. Additional images were discovered on a Tumblr account and a Yahoo chat log.

He was subsequently bailed by police, on the condition that he not have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

Claire Matthews, who defended Jarvis in court, said that he had suffered “entrenched demons” for years and had shown “complete remorse” in police interviews.

She commented that “his fall from grace has been a very public one but he has accepted it, his focus is on demonstrating his intention to address, understand and change his behaviour”.

Jarvis is now banned from using devices with internet-capacity unless a full history is stored, and from contact with anyone under 18 years of age without parental consent, unless such contact is inadvertant. The judge also ordered him to pay £670 towards costs incurred by the prosecution.

English Professor in court over indecent images of children

After the sentence, Laura Tams of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Simon Jarvis was found to be in possession of a large amount of indecent images of children, including more than 40 at the most serious level”.

“He also used the internet to share images with others and to engage in fantasy conversations about child abuse”.

Speaking to Varsity, a spokesperson for the University said: “We can confirm that Jarvis has been suspended from his post, pending the outcome of an internal investigation. We continue to offer support to anyone who has concerns about the case”.

Professor Martin Millett, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, said that it was “hard to put into words just how shocked the University community is by this type of behaviour.

“Our thoughts are with the victims of these terrible crimes, who are created every time these images are made, viewed or shared online. We would like to thank the police for their thorough investigation”.

These statements were reiterated in an email sent to students by the Faculty of English on 15th May