This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Sydney police officer tasked with warning schoolchildren about the dangers of online predators has been charged with sexually abusing and raping a child over a decade. The victim was aged under 10 when the alleged abuse began.

Senior Constable Dean Perkins visited schools across Sydney’s west in his role as the force’s youth liaison officer.

The officer would tell children how to protect themselves from cyberbullies, sexting and online predators, one school’s newsletters reported.

“All year group presentations were well received by all staff and students, as we hope to inform and protect our students in the changing online world!” a note about his visit to St Dominic’s College in Kingswood states on the school’s website.

Perkins also met with parents and citizens groups and appeared on “anti-bullying plans” for multiple schools as a contact point for children and parents seeking further information.

But detectives allege the 43-year-old was a wolf in sheep’s clothing who, between 2007 and 2018, was sexually abusing a child.

Perkins was arrested on Thursday after an internal investigation by the professional standards command, supported by the child abuse and sex crimes squad.

He was charged with aggravated indecency and assault, attempted sexual intercourse with a child under 10, grooming a child younger than 14 for sex and two counts of sex with a child aged 10 to 14.

He was suspended from duty as a result, NSW police said in a statement on Friday.

Perkins applied for bail at Penrith local court but it was formally refused. He is expected before the same court again on 21 December.