One of Britain’s top pilots was caught with dozens of vile child abuse images when police raided his home in Wiltshire following a tip-off last year.
59-year-old Andrew Lloyd, who recently changed his name from Andrew Cubin, appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday, 5 April) via video link.
The former Red Arrows pilot, honoured with an MBE, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children – including 48 in the most serious category.
Keith Ballinger, prosecuting, said Wiltshire Police launched an investigation after they received information relating to an IP address being used to upload images to the internet.
“The IP address was found to belong to an address in Malmesbury”, he said.
“Officers attended the address on 17 February last year and arrested Mr Lloyd.”
Mr Ballinger said the defendant told the officers “you can take my laptop, I used that”, before stating “I have removed all the images”.
Various items were seized from the property in Kings Meadow, Crudwell, near Malmesbury, including the laptop. Forensic analysis revealed a number of indecent images of children – some were pictures and others were videos.
The court heard that 48 Category A images were found – all of which involve children engaging in penetrative sexual activity.
39 Category B images – which show non-penetrative sexual activity with a child – were discovered, and ten Category C images were also found.
In an interview in custody, he made full admissions. Mr Ballinger said Lloyd made reference to his daughter, who died aged 14 of natural causes during a sleepover in 2016.
Though, defence solicitor Nicholas Wragg interjected, stating: “Is that really necessary?” – resulting in the prosecutor not continuing his summary of the custody interview.
Magistrates sent the case to Swindon Crown Court and a pre-sentence report was ordered.
“You’ll be committed to Swindon Crown Court for sentencing. These offences are so serious you need a greater punishment that we can give”, the chair of the bench remarked.
Lloyd, now of Wood Close, Windsor, Berkshire, was told he must register as a sex offender at Bracknell Police Station within 72 hours. He was released on unconditional bail.
MORE COURT: Wiltshire man found with hundreds of indecent images of children – including babies
Background
During a 20-year career in the Royal Air Force, when he was known as Andy “Cubes” Cubin, he flew in the Red Arrows as Red 6, who leads the synchro pairing. Before qualifying as a fast jet instructor, he flew Jaguars and Hawks.
Since leaving the RAF in 2002, he has worked for some of the world’s biggest airlines – including Virgin Atlantic as a First Officer and British Airways as a Captain, flying the Airbus A321, A320 and A319.
Lloyd also flies stunt planes for AeroSuperBatics based in Cirencester, near Swindon. Most notably, he was one of two pilots flying wingwalkers at the Bournemouth Air Show in 2021, when one of them crashed into the sea.
Outside of aviation, Lloyd describes himself as having an “infused a passion for photography” on the website Pixels.com, where he is selling nude photographs of a model. On his profile, he claims to have a commercial and wedding photography business and teaches photography workshops in Wiltshire.
