©️ WRITTEN BY – SOPHIE LEWIS

Convicted Police Inspector Thomas Kettleborough walked away with just two years, eight months for a string of child sex offences.

Let that sink in.

When it comes to protecting children, we’re told to trust the police. But what happens when the predator is the police?

Inspector Thomas Kettleborough, once trusted to uphold the law at Avon and Somerset Police, has now been exposed as a predator — convicted of multiple child sex offences.

And yet… he’s been sentenced to just two years and eight months in prison.

---

Let’s spell out what he was found guilty of:

Let’s spell out what he was found guilty of:

• Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence
• Attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child
• Attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity
• Engaging in sexual communication with a child
• Four counts of making indecent images of children

This wasn’t a lapse in judgement. This was predatory, deliberate, and sustained. The kind of case that should shake the foundations of the force.

Instead, he’ll likely be out in JUST 16 MONTHS on good behaviour.

He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life — but let’s not pretend that makes up for it.

---

We’ve Seen This Before

This isn’t isolated. It’s not rare. We’ve documented the same patterns across Grooming Files — officers, teachers, judges, youth workers — positions of trust shielding abusers.

Time after time, we see:

• Light sentences
• Quiet handling
• A sweeping under the rug

But what makes this worse is who he was. A serving inspector. A man in uniform. A person with the power to arrest, investigate, intimidate — and instead, he used that power to fantasise about abusing children.

He’s not alone.
He’s just the one who got caught.

---

Editor’s Note:

We are watching closely.
We are documenting every case.
We are holding power to account — even when institutions won’t.

We started Grooming Files and Life Unscripted UK because we were tired of screaming into the void. Tired of being told “it’s just a one-off.” Tired of having lived it — and seeing it swept under the rug again and again.

If you’ve read this far, this isn’t the end. It’s a call.

Share this story. Demand transparency. Demand sentencing reform.

Because if we stay silent now, we’ll be reading about the next predator in uniform tomorrow.

---

To contact the author or share your story anonymously, visit: The Grooming Files

---