Household Cavalry soldier sentenced to 12 years for plotting child rape

A Household Cavalry serviceman, Graham Jarvis, was convicted of two counts of attempting to arrange child sex offences after he agreed online to abuse a seven-year-old girl and a 10-month-old infant. Believing he was speaking with the children’s mother, he arranged to drive from his central London barracks to her home in Wales, even inquiring about the older child’s prior abuse. Police had placed an undercover officer in the role, and Jarvis was arrested in February 2024 before the trip.

During sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Adam Hiddleston described the plans as real, not fantasy, and imposed a 12-year term with a minimum of eight years behind bars and an additional two-year licence period. Jarvis was dismissed from the Household Cavalry, and his defence highlighted a recent traumatic period; he has since earned an animal psychology degree from the Open University.