This incident may not be as clear cut as it may seem at first.
One thing's for sure,it does seem to be completely out of character.
Quite a bit of info on this officer's (distinguished) service career is in 'Aces High' by Chris Shores & Clive Williams.This states that "A devout Roman catholic,Tony Lovell had not been a 'party animal' and is not frequently remembered in the accounts of his various contemporaries.He had,however,flown throughout the war,undertaking one of the largest numberof operational tours of any pilot in the RAF"
His descendent's were obviuosly not happy with the official verdict on his demise because I recall press reports a few years back that his daughter (?) was seeking to get it overturned citing,I believe,possible deficiencies with the aircraft.
Be interested to know how she got on