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A paedophile police officer has been jailed for at least 25 years for 37 offences including the rape and sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl and online grooming of other young victims.

Ian Naude, 30, met his 13-year-old victim while he was on duty and days later picked her up in his car while her mother was out.

The "committed paedophile" drove her to a secluded spot where he raped her in the back seat while filming the assault on his mobile phone, a court heard.

The Cheshire police constable - who snapped a smirking selfie after the assault - had denied raping her, telling his trial at Liverpool Crown Court the sex was consensual and she "seemed to be enjoying it".

An investigation revealed he had preyed on vulnerable, underage girls on social media, where he blackmailed them and persuaded them to send pictures of themselves undressed while using aliases such as Bruce Ian Wayne, 15-year-old Jake Green and King of the North.

He sent sick messages to youngsters, telling them to call him "daddy", asking one 14-year-old girl "Soooo what’s the most you’ve ever done with a boy?" and saying to a 13-year-old "You're old enough baby".

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Honorary recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC sentenced Naude, of Market Drayton in Shropshire, to 25 years in prison with an extended licence period of five years on Thursday.

He said: "In order to impose your will on a young girl, three weeks past her 13th birthday, and to commit offences of rape and sexual assault against her, you used and abused your position as a Cheshire Police officer, thereby enabling you to satisfy your lust and perversion."

Father-of-one Naude, wearing a grey suit and burgundy tie, was ordered to pay attention by the judge as he looked down at a folder of evidence while he was sentenced.

Judge Goldstone said: "Having seen and heard you during the trial, I am wholly persuaded that you do not, even now, have any inkling or appreciation of the extent of your perversion or of the psychological harm and damage you have caused."

He said Naude, of Market Drayton, Shropshire, was "out of control" with an "insatiable appetite" for young girls and described a selfie he took after raping his victim as showing his "smug self satisfaction and total lack of shame".

In a statement read to the court, the 13-year-old's mother said the victim would no longer leave the house without close family and friends.

She said: "She will no longer walk past the local police station and hides when a police car drives past."

Other parents said their daughters had gone on to self-harm after being groomed online by Naude. He groomed six girls, aged between 12 and 16, online and admitted using his position as a police officer to find contact details of two other teenage girls.

Naude, who previously served in Afghanistan as a machine gunner with the Royal Irish Regiment, also admitted possessing 1,443 indecent images of children, including pictures of girls aged as young as 18 months.

Last month, a jury found Naude, who has been dismissed from Cheshire Constabulary, guilty of raping and sexually assaulting the 13-year-old, and other child sex offences.

The trial heard the 30-year-old, of Market Drayton in Shropshire, joined the force in April 2017 and had ambitions of working in a unit dealing with vulnerable youngsters.

He had joined Cheshire Constabulary "to gain the keys to a sweetshop" and meet his victims, a court heard.

Naude was said to be obsessed with taking the virginity of teenage girls and groomed victims over social media, using Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Kik to target his victims while posing as a teenage boy.

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He would blackmail and threaten vulnerable girls, persuade them to send pictures of themselves undressed, tell them to call him "daddy" and send them videos of himself masturbating.

The persistent paedophile would always begin his messages with "Hi, you look pretty and interesting" before moving on to a question and answer game, and progressing to conversations littered with flirtatious and sexual language, the court heard..

He would quickly demand nude images and threaten to expose the victim to her friends if she refused, exploiting the obvious vulnerabilities of his victims.

He tried to meet some of the girls in person.

At his trial, Naude told the jury that he told the 13-year-old girl to "call me daddy", and claimed that she told him that she loved him.

The court heard that Naude met her when he was called to a domestic incident at her home in October 2017 and groomed her over a 24-hour period, encouraging her to send indecent images of herself.

Three days later, after clocking off duty for the afternoon, he picked her up while her mother was out and drove her to a secluded spot off a country lane.

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They then got in the back seat of his car and had sex as Naude took photos and videos on his mobile phone.

Her parents alerted police on November 3, 2017, and an investigation was launched. Naude was arrested and charged the following day and suspended from duty.

He was later dismissed from the force at a special hearing.

The court heard that a number of his electronic devices were seized and examined, with police finding a large collection of indecent images and videos of children, and chilling messages to his young victims.

Using a fake profile, Naude said to one victim: "Oooooh you're still 13...that's so sexy...do you mind the age gap?"

When she did not respond he bombarded her with messages.

One read: "You're old enough baby. Girls are having sex when they're 10 and 11 these days."

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He also demanded the girls sent him explicit photos and when they refused he threatened them.

He told one girl who told him she broke her camera: "No you didn't. If you want to lie to me then you're going to pay the price.

"Fine, I'm just gonna mail all your friends then... I'm getting sick of getting f***** around by you."

One victim suggested she would take her own life as he pressured her to send pictures.

Naude, who joined Cheshire Police in April 2017, was also found guilty last month of four counts of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence and one count of arranging the commission of a child sex offence in relation to five other complainants aged between 12 and 15.

Originally from South Africa, Naude had already admitted 30 other offences, including inciting children to engage in sexual activity, causing children to watch sexual acts and misconduct in a public office.

He had also admitted to grooming underage girls via a fake Facebook profile.

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Naude was already being investigated for sex offences when he became a student officer in April 2017. Following a period of training, he was based at Crewe Local Policing Unit with a tutor constable.

Cheshire Constabulary said his appointment was delayed from January 2017 to April 2017 because he was alleged to have raped a woman in Staffordshire.

No further action was taken in the case and Naude was allowed to join, but reports of child grooming in Staffordshire and West Mercia, which named him as a suspect in January and February 2017, were not picked up by Cheshire Police until after his arrest in November that year.

Acting chief constable Janette McCormick said previously that processes had been changed since Naude's arrest.

Saul Brody, defending, said there was "very little mitigation" and conceded the defendant was a dangerous offender.

He added: "It's unclear whether he entered the police force specifically to exploit vulnerable victims but he undoubtedly sought opportunities to do so once appointed."

Following sentencing, the 13-year-old girl's parents said in a statement released by police: “On 3 November 2017 the lives of our family changed forever when we discovered what had happened to our young, innocent, 13-year-old daughter.

“Now, 12 months later, we still cannot comprehend what took place following the night when, in a time of need, we contacted Cheshire Police for help. Ian Naude, a serving police officer, answered that call for help however, he abused our faith and trust in him as a police officer by going on to groom and rape our daughter. He entered our house, which felt at that time like a safe haven for our family, and has effectively destroyed that feeling.

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“We do not know the long-term effects this will have on our daughter. We still cannot explain to her why this horrific and sickening abuse happened to her. We worry about how she will cope in the future, particularly when it comes the time for her to have intimate relationships based on trust and love.

“We worry about how we will protect our daughter in the future and feel that we cannot give her the freedom she once had as a confident and growing child for her own protection which is very saddening.

“There are no words to even begin to explain the pain, hurt and anger we have felt and are still feeling as a direct result of that vile and despicable man. He has destroyed our lives, our family and, most of all, the innocence of our daughter, something we will never come to terms with or understand.”

Detective Inspector Kate Tomlinson, the Senior Investigating Officer for the case, said: “Ian Naude is a sexual predator of the most evil kind. He joined Cheshire Police with the sole purpose of gaining a position of trust so he could prey on young, vulnerable girls. His behaviour and actions were truly appalling and the sentence handed down to him today reflects that.

“I have worked on this investigation for the past 12 months alongside a dedicated team of officers and staff. It has been a long, complex and very challenging investigation. Never would I have imagined that I would be investigating a police officer and for such horrendous crimes.

“It was Ian Naude’s job to enforce the law and protect people from harm. Instead he became the most dangerous of predators and betrayed the very people he swore to protect.

“The details of this case are hard enough for someone like me - a police officer with 24 years’ service - to hear. For the victims who had to go through it – it has left them completely traumatised.

“I want to acknowledge the incredible bravery that these young girls have shown – especially the 13-year-old girl who found the courage to come forward and disclose that Naude had raped her in his car.”

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “Naude appallingly abused his position to gain power over a 13-year-old and get her alone in order to satisfy his perverted sexual desires.

“She showed immense bravery in giving evidence about her terrifying ordeal, which has led to this dangerous predator being jailed and stopped from targeting more young girls.

“Naude used social media networks to contact all his victims. The NSPCC wants a new, independent regulator with the power to fine social media companies who don’t do enough to root out this sickening behaviour.”