I stumbled upon this case while doing a background research about a LA County Sheriff's Office detective in the Special Victim's Unit who allegedly raped a teenage girl for this post.

This case is even worse though, since the defendant in this case was already a suspect in rape and grooming cases before he joined the police; he was recruited nevertheless. Of course everybody is terribly sorry now. /s

A paedophile police officer who raped a teenage girl was named as a suspect in three cases before he was appointed to the force.

The force said the recruitment process was put on hold following an allegation he had raped a woman in Staffordshire.

But, when no further action was taken in the case, a decision was made by the vetting department to allow the process to continue and Naude was appointed to the force in April that year.

When police began to investigate Naude following his arrest, they found he had also been a named suspect in two child grooming allegations which were reported to Staffordshire Police and West Mercia Police in January and February 2017.

Two reports became part of the Cheshire Police investigation into Naude, which saw him plead guilty to 30 charges, including inciting children to engage in sexual activity and making indecent photos of children, and found guilty of rape, sexual assault and five offences relating to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence.

An investigation by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) into the vetting process and employment of Naude found there was no case to answer for misconduct for any individual officer.

A spokesperson said "In light of this case, constabulary has looked long and hard at its own recruitment and screening programme for new recruits to see whether this type of incident can be avoided in the future

So until now, they didn't exclude applicants like him, and recruited them nevertheless. Which begs the question how many police officers are pedophiles?

Checks on police systems and complaint records are also now undertaken for all officers completing the probation period of two years and training of new staff has been reviewed.

This of course will help the rape victim tremendously. /s

Thursday, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found him guilty of rape and sexual assault, as well as four charges of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence and one charge of arranging a child sex offence, relating to five complainants aged between 12 and 15.

The court had been told the 30-year-old, who police believe may have more victims who have yet to come forward, had been acting on an "ever increasing interest in young girls" over the past six or seven years.

Naude was described during the two-week trial as a "selfish and cruel paedophile" who was obsessed with taking the virginity of teenage girls and joined the force with the intention of meeting vulnerable victims.

He previously served in Afghanistan as a machine gunner with the Royal Irish Regiment and was warned by Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC he faces a "very significant sentence indeed".

The court was told the father-of-one, based at Crewe police station, would gain the trust of young girls by posing on social media as a 15-year-old boy called Jake Green.

He also had an account under the name of Bruce Ian Wayne, an apparent reference to superhero Batman, and a Snapchat account named King Of The North.

He would persuade his victims to undress and sometimes perform sexual acts on camera before sending them pictures and video of himself, the court heard.

In some cases he then threatened to send the photos on to other people on their Facebook friends list and on one occasion told a victim he would harass her friends, including one who self-harmed, unless she sent him photos.

The court heard after the rape was reported Naude was accidentally copied into a police email revealing the plan to arrest him.

'Accidentally'....

When his phone was seized 756 images had been deleted from it.

Other devices, including a laptop and another phone, were later discovered in a field in Market Drayton after he gave a hand-drawn map of their location to his cellmate.

Investigations into Naude, of Market Drayton in Shropshire, are ongoing and officers believe there may be more victims who have not yet come forward.

Detective Chief Superintendent Aaron Duggan said: "We do know that he has committed this offending for a considerable length of time and there may well be other people out there, other victims, who think they have been subjected to offending by Naude, not just as a police officer but before he joined the force."

Ms McCormick said officers had gone through records of all the contact Naude had with people as an officer and there were investigations continuing as a result.

Naude will be sentenced on December 13.

@TrishaUK @DerivaUK @Unicorn_And_Sparkles @The_Savant