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Barry Langford, 61, a film studies professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, continued in post after his arrest and charge over child sex offences.
The university said it was not told of the proceedings until shortly before he was sentenced.
In May and June 2023, Langford and a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons plotted to sexually assault an eight-year-old girl. On a fetish website, where he used the name “London Pervert,” he messaged someone he believed was offering a child for sex. The contact was an undercover police officer; no child was involved. He later abandoned the plan over fears of imprisonment, after suggesting the child attend a swingers’ party in France.
He was arrested in October 2023 but did not disclose the investigation to Royal Holloway. Charged in November 2024, he admitted one count each of arranging the commission of a child sex offence, making an indecent image of a child, and possessing extreme pornography. He tendered his resignation on 29 June, the day he pleaded guilty, according to reports of the hearing.
At the Old Bailey he received two years’ imprisonment, suspended for three years. His co-defendant received a community order. Defending, Peter Clark said Langford had serious heart problems, that the case had damaged his relationship with his son, and that he had been working with Sex Addicts Anonymous.
A Royal Holloway spokesman said: “The University was not informed of the criminal proceedings by either the relevant authorities or the individual concerned. The conduct in question is utterly abhorrent and has no place whatsoever within this University. We can confirm that this individual is no longer employed by the University.
“We recognise this news may be distressing to many of our students and colleagues and have support in place. Our focus remains on supporting our community and we will not be commenting further at this time.”
Det Cons Nikki Jones, of the Metropolitan Police’s Child Abuse and Sex Exploitation Unit, said such offenders “walk among us.” She added: “It’s like a double life, that dark secret obsession of the extremes that they can’t disclose to anyone because it doesn’t fit in with the life they present to others.” Examination of his devices, she said, showed the life he presented was the opposite of the extreme taboos he expressed and acted on online.