A former Church of England vicar in south-west London has pleaded guilty to sending sexual messages and explicit photographs of himself to an undercover police investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl. The Rev. Ben Lovell, 44, former vicar of St Mary’s Church, Hampton, and former Area Dean of Hampton in the Diocese of London, entered his pleas at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, and was committed to Kingston Crown Court for sentencing.
Prosecutor Ross Davis told the court that Mr. Lovell had contacted the decoy, known as “Isla,” over Snapchat in 2025. “The defendant engaged via social media with the decoy [undercover investigator posing as a child] and the conversation was sexual,” Mr. Davis said. “He also sent indecent images of himself to the decoy. Further inquiries revealed he was the vicar of St Mary’s.”
Mr. Lovell pleaded guilty to two offences. The Daily Mail reported them as one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child and one of causing a child under 13 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity. A report by Max Stephens published on Yahoo News described them as sending indecent images of himself to a person under 16 and causing a child under 16 to look at a photograph of sexual activity.
Mr. Davis called it “a high culpability offence as it included solicitation of images and also sexual images were sent and received,” and said Mr. Lovell was likely to receive a sentence of between 18 months and two years in prison. Magistrates said the offences were too serious for their sentencing powers. “The offences you have pleaded guilty to are so serious, we will be committing them to Kingston Crown Court at a date that will be confirmed with you,” the chairman of the bench said.
Fred Batstone, for the defence, told the court that Mr. Lovell had no previous convictions and had complied with all bail requirements concerning his children. He said Mr. Lovell, who is married with two daughters, is not living with his family, is not working and has daily supervised contact with his children approved by social services. The court ordered a pre-sentence report and released Mr. Lovell on conditional bail.
In a statement issued by its safeguarding team on Oct. 13, the Diocese of London confirmed the guilty pleas and said the offences “do not relate to his role at St Mary’s, or to any other role, or to his family.” The diocese said that when it learned of his arrest in 2025, it worked with statutory agencies “to put safeguarding and risk management measures in place to protect the parish community and to ensure that children, young people and vulnerable adults remained safe.” Bail conditions were imposed immediately, and Mr. Lovell “was suspended from ministry, and stepped back from his other responsibilities.”
The diocese said statutory agencies had advised it “on what could be communicated publicly and when, to respect the integrity of the ongoing police investigation,” and added that “the matter remains subject to court process, which should be allowed to conclude fairly and independently.” St Mary’s Hampton has posted a link to the diocesan statement on its website.
Mr. Lovell came to St Mary’s from a curacy at St Paul’s, South Harrow, and was inducted as vicar on June 6, 2017. He became Area Dean of Hampton on April 18, 2023, while remaining vicar. In 2018 he led the parish’s first baptisms by immersion in the River Thames. He also served as a director of Hampton School, an independent school, until December 2025, and chaired the board of trustees of the Instanter Learning Trust, which runs St Mary’s Hampton Church of England Primary School.
The Daily Mail reported that Mr. Lovell is due back in court next month for a pre-sentence report hearing. He will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on a date yet to be fixed.