Ex-Humberside Police inspector swerves jail over ‘revolting’ child abuse images

Former Humberside inspector, Ian Walpole, 43, was given a suspended sentence at Lincoln Crown Court after admitting having 246 indecent images and videos of children on two phones

A former police inspector who possessed “revolting” indecent images and videos of children on his mobile phones has received a suspended prison sentence. Officers found 246 images and videos showing child abuse on two of 43-year-old Ian Walpole’s phones following his arrest in July last year, Lincoln Crown Court was told.

His offences came to light during a Police Scotland probe in June 2024 into another individual who had transmitted videos of himself abusing a child to a contact listed in his phone as Ian. Walpole, who served as an inspector with Humberside Police, admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court in May last year.

Handing him a six-month prison term, suspended for 21 months, Recorder Luke Blackburn declared that Walpole, of South Street in Roxby, North Lincolnshire, had only himself to blame for losing a “long and impressive” 21-year policing career.

He stated that few individuals would have understood better than a police officer the “profound” impact child sexual abuse images have on victims.

He remarked: “The reality of child sexual exploitation is, of course, real-world harm done to real victims – whether they are in this country or far abroad makes no difference at all.”

Prosecuting barrister Michael Masson informed the court that an iPhone 11 belonging to Walpole contained 89 illegal files, comprising 26 pictures in the most serious category A, 13 pictures in category B, and 41 pictures in category C. Additionally, there were nine category A videos found.

On an iPhone SE, 157 illicit files were unearthed – 123 image files of which 36 were category A, 24 were category B and 57 were category C.

There were also 24 category A and 10 category B video files, one of which was over 16 minutes long and depicted the abuse of a 12 year old lad.

Mr Masson highlighted that attempts to delete or conceal the illegal files worsened the situation, as did the age and vulnerability of the children involved.

He further noted that Walpole’s crimes could tarnish the public’s view of the police and potentially erode their trust in the force.

Defending Walpole, Andrea Parnham pointed out that the defendant had no prior convictions and had made significant efforts to address his offending by enrolling in self-funded courses.

She stated: “The defendant does display remorse for his actions and has taken steps to address his offending behaviour.

“The defendant is clearly accepting his offending behaviour and accepting he needs to address the root cause of his behaviour and is doing so.”

She added that he had experienced a “great deal of stress from work” leading up to the offences.

She said: “He was a serving police officer, he has lost a 21-year police career. He knows that’s his fault, he has lost the related income and has lost friends and colleagues from the publicity that has come from his court appearances.

“He has had suicidal thoughts and has been prepared to act on them. He no longer has a career as a police officer, he knows and accepts that.”

Miss Parnham revealed he had retrained as an HGV driver and was poised to begin job applications in the sector once proceedings concluded.

She argued: “Any custodial sentence would be of a length that there would likely be very limited rehabilitation work, his rehabilitation journey would stop and it wouldn’t allow him to continue with it until he was released.

“He does not present a high risk of reoffending or harm.

“He wants to start his career as an HGV driver. He has received punishment through the loss of his reputation and his career.”

Recorder Blackburn observed: “There are significant matters of mitigation. There has been a delay in you arriving at your sentence which I recognise for a man of good character… is a considerable burden.

“You had a long and impressive career over more than two decades ending with you holding the rank of police inspector.

“All of that is now lost, all of that loss is your fault.

“You have undertaken work to begin to tackle what you have accepted is your sexual interest in children. That is not only a sign there is a problem to be tackled, but that you realised there is a problem.”

He noted he was “only just” convinced the sentence could be suspended.

He concluded: “There is, I perceive, a strong prospect of rehabilitation, not least because you began that process yourself.

“Although revolting, what you did was not so serious it must be met with immediate custody.”

In addition to this, Walpole was subjected to a sexual harm prevention order and is required to complete 50 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work.