Garry Wells-Burr

A disgraced former police officer, Garry Wells-Burr, has been sentenced to six years in prison for the sexual abuse of two young girls between January 2010 and July 2014. Wells-Burr, who served as a constable with Hertfordshire Police from 2003 to 2016, targeted the victims during his time in the force, abusing one girl aged 12 to 16 and another aged 15. The offences came to light following an allegation received by the Joint Child Protection Investigation Team in January 2015, leading to his immediate arrest while on duty.

At Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday, Judge David Turner QC condemned Wells-Burr's actions as a profound betrayal of trust. "Your grave misconduct left your victims shattered and confused, and their victim impact statements were painful reading," the judge stated. "The wickedness of what you have done will have a lasting and damaging impact on both of them. You were a trusted individual and you breached that trust with your covertly manipulative and shameful abuse of power." The judge highlighted that the abuse was repeated and sustained, targeting relatively young children and contradicting everything Wells-Burr had been trained for as an officer.

• Wells-Burr pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
• He also admitted to causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and sexual assault.
• Three additional counts—of sexual assault of a child under 13 and two counts of sexual assault—were ordered to lie on file after he denied them.

In addition to the custodial sentence, Wells-Burr was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which prohibits him from contacting either victim or having unsupervised contact with children under 16. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life. Hertfordshire's Chief Constable Charlie Hall emphasised the force's commitment to investigating sexual offences, stating: "There is no place for a sex offender to hide no matter what their job, and the specialist team who led this inquiry were both tenacious and highly professional." Detective Sergeant Adam Conder from the child protection team added: "These offences will understandably have a far-reaching impact on both victims. I want to commend their bravery in coming forward."

Wells-Burr, originally from Royston and latterly residing in Needingworth, Cambridgeshire, was suspended from duty immediately after his arrest and dismissed from Hertfordshire Police in February 2016 for gross misconduct unrelated to these offences. During his service, he was based at stations in Stevenage, Bishop’s Stortford, and Hertford, working as an intervention/response officer and case investigation officer. The case underscores the devastating impact of sexual abuse by those in positions of authority, with the victims receiving specialist support throughout the investigation.