Former police officer sentenced for online child sex offences

A former police officer has been handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting to multiple offences, including making indecent images of children.

James Gullis, 28, pleaded guilty to the offences in February and was sentenced today (16 April) to 10 months in prison suspended for two years. He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

At a separate misconduct hearing on 18 March, which followed an investigation by our Professional Standards Department, he was barred from policing and would have been dismissed had he not already resigned after gross misconduct was found proven.

The east Somerset-based former officer was arrested in December 2023 after information was received from the National Crime Agency (NCA). He was also suspended from duty.

He was charged with – and pleaded guilty to – the following offences:

• Making indecent images of children – categories A, B and C
• Possession of prohibited images of children
• Possession of extreme pornography

The criminal process was run parallel to the investigation by our Professional Standards Department which concluded with a hearing chaired by former Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden last month

It found Gullis had breached the honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct standards under the Standards of Professional Behaviour for police officers.

Assistant Chief Constable Joanne Hall said: “He committed horrendous crimes and we moved quickly to arrest him and suspend him from duty as soon as we became aware of his offending.

“The misconduct process has also ensured he will never be able to work in any law enforcement role ever again.

“We are committed to taking robust action where the standards we require of officers and staff are not met, however the vast majority of our officers and staff are dedicated to the communities they serve and to keeping the public safe and will be as appalled as anyone else to learn about his offending.”

If you have any information relevant to our investigation, you can contact us by calling 101 or through our website at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk using the reference number 5223262926.

The full outcome of this hearing has been added to the misconduct section of our website