A former Bedfordshire police officer, who preyed on two teenage girls by ‘befriending’ them online and then sexually exploiting them has been jailed for 3 and a half years.
Elliot Wright, 29, was arrested in March 2024, when a vulnerable 17-year-old girl was reported missing after getting into a car with him.
An investigation found he had been in contact with her for several weeks through social media, exchanging hundreds of messages, and visiting the road where she lived four times before they met.
He asked for indecent pictures of her and had offered to buy her gifts including alcohol, cigarettes and clothes if she came to his house.
During the police investigation that followed, it was discovered that Wright, who was a serving police officer with Bedfordshire Police at the time, had been having online conversations with a 16-year-old girl the year before.
Wright solicited indecent images from the girl in return for money, and he offered to pay her if she agreed to work on the online platform, OnlyFans.
A search of Wright’s address uncovered a significant number of sexual images of girls who appeared to be under 18.
His internet search history also showed several searches relating to sexual offending against children by police officers and disciplinary proceedings and potential defences to indecent image offences.
“Elliot Wright knew these two teenage girls were vulnerable and he took advantage of that; grooming them online and exploiting them for his own sexual gratification,” said Paul Robson for the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Based on evidence from Wright’s phone and electronic devices, we authorised several child sexual offence charges against him.
“Having initially denied the charges, he eventually entered guilty pleas, meaning his young victims were at least spared from the ordeal of a trial.
“Today he has been jailed for his actions and we hope his sentence sends a clear message that we won’t hesitate to bring charges against those who prey on young people for their own twisted ends.”
“Reprehensible actions”
Wright has previously pleaded guilty to inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, arranging the sexual exploitation of a child, and doing an act tending or intended to pervert the course of justice in relation to the victim who he was in contact with in March 2024.
He also later pleaded guilty to three counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child and paying for sexual services of a child in relation to the teenager he engaged with in 2023.
Today (16 October), he was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court to 42 months.
Temporary Chief Constable Dan Vajzovic of Bedfordshire Police welcomed the sentence.
“Wright is undoubtedly a deviant sexual predator who targeted and groomed young girls for his own sexual gratification,” he said.
“Police officers are trained to identify vulnerability so they can protect people from harm. Wright used that training, and his position as a police officer, to abuse some of the most vulnerable young girls for his own means.
“The district judge who remanded him on his first appearance after his arrest described his actions as ‘reprehensible’ which is absolutely fitting.
“There is no excuse for how he acted, and he has let down his colleagues and further harmed trust and confidence in policing.
“There is categorically no place in this, or any police force, for anyone who behaves in this way, and I welcome his custodial sentence.”
