Lockerbie bombing first responder police officer jailed for child abuse plan

Matthew Roy was one of the first police officers at the scene of the Lockerbie bombing. Picture: Greater Manchester Police

Matthew Roy, 60, drove from Midlothian to a single mother's home in Cumbria after falling for a sick online plot which saw a string of perverts sent to the woman’s front door.

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Stuart Westwood, 46, a former BAE worker, was jailed for eight years in May after setting up dozens of fake profiles on dating websites including Plenty of Fish.

Posing as the woman he invited strangers to her home to participate in sexual acts with her and her young son.

Believing he was talking to the woman, Roy moved the conversation to WhatsApp where he made suggestions of sex acts he wanted to perform on the woman and with her young son.

On July 30 last year she was monitoring the camera on her iPad when she saw Roy walk up to her door. She immediately called police and he was arrested.

Roy, who served with the Lothian and Borders force, had driven more than 170 miles from his home in Gorebridge to the woman's house in Barrow-in-Furness.

He was jailed at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of attempting to arrange or facilitate child sex offences.

The pervert, who was described in court as having had "an extraordinary career in public service", had tried to use his experience at Lockerbie to escape a jail sentence.

He claimed to have suffered mental health problems since being called to the town where 270 people were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up on 21 December 1988.

However the sentencing judge, Robert Altham, said he had been shown no medical evidence to back up Roy's claims.

The court heard that Roy was one of 10 men to turn up at the woman's house and that she was so frightened that she installed CCTV and went to live with her parents for safety.

Between September 2017 and October 2018, Westwood used pictures of the woman in her wedding dress and family photos from Disneyland to send men to her door at all hours of the day and night.

In a victim impact statement, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "I feel like my life isn’t my own. I feel like I am being watched.

"I want the world to know none of the online profiles were me, none of the disgusting words were mine.

"Every part of my life fell apart; my work, social life and my home life. I no longer post events about my life. I feel socially isolated, afraid to go out in public and afraid to interact online."

After retiring from the police force, Roy set up his own emergency planning consultancy business citing his experience at Lockerbie.

An online profile of him states that he was raised in Edinburgh and joined Lothian and Borders Police as a cadet in 1975.

His consultancy firm has worked with local authorities and the health sector and was involved with the planning for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Sentencing Roy, Judge Altham said: “It is important to understand the gravity of what it was you were attempting to cause.

“The boy’s mother knew why you were there. She knew not because she had any collusion but because of what others had done before by turning up at the house.

“It is absolutely clear from the chat logs that you were pushing the conversation along. You were initiating conversations.

“It is plain you turned up there expecting the boy to be there and expecting him to be abused.

“The pre-sentence reports shows an extraordinary career in public service and it is a tragedy that such a career ends like this.”

A Preston Crown Court spokesman confirmed Roy had been jailed for 42 months.

He was also placed on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.