Ian Naude: 'Committed paedophile' who raped 13-year-old girl in car joined police to target vulnerable children, court told

Former soldier posed as a 15-year-old boy to groom girls as young as 12 on Facebook

A police officer has been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in the back of his car – and filming the attack – after being called to her family home.

PC Ian Naude, a former soldier, was described as a “committed paedophile” who joined the police to gain access to vulnerable victims.

He also admitted 31 offences relating to grooming and blackmailing underage girls using a fake Facebook profile, including one who said she would kill herself, and misconduct in public office.

A two-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard Naude was a “selfish and cruel paedophile” who was obsessed with taking the virginity of teenage girls, and had been acting on an “ever-increasing interest in young girls” over the past six or seven years.

The 30-year-old formerly served in Afghanistan as a machine gunner in the Royal Irish Regiment.

Naude had been due to join Cheshire Police as a student officer in January 2017, but the recruitment process was put on hold following an allegation he had raped a woman in neighbouring Staffordshire.

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.

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

Messages between Ian Naude and one of his victims (Cheshire Police)

Naude attacked his 13-year-old victim in October of that year, after being called to a domestic incident at her family home.

The jury heard that he contacted her on Facebook days later. After 24 hours of exchanging sexual images and messages Naude went to her home.

Naude drove her to a nearby waste ground, sexually assaulted her and raped her on the back seat of his car. He filmed part of what happened with his mobile phone.

A jury 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 victims aged between 12 and 15.

Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC warned Naude that he faces a “very significant sentence indeed” on 19 December.

He said: “This is a case which has fairly depicted the defendant as a cold, uncaring, selfish and cruel paedophile who has on occasion stooped as low as coercive and threatening behaviour, including blackmail of young girls, some of whom have been properly characterised as vulnerable.”

Naude admitted having sex with his victim but claimed the 13-year-old had consented.

Martin McRobb of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The disturbing video of the incident on his phone did not show the face of a consenting woman. It showed the face of a sad, scared and abused 13-year-old girl.

Naude’s messages to another of his victims (Cheshire Police ) (Cheshire Police)

“She had been groomed by a police officer who had a history of manipulating, pressurising and blackmailing young girls into performing sexual acts for his perverted pleasure.

“Ian Naude thought he could get away with it but, thankfully, his victim found the courage to tell her family what had happened.

“The investigation that followed revealed Naude to be a persistent paedophile who had been targeting young girls on the internet for a long time. He had joined the police to gain greater access to vulnerable young girls he could exploit.”

He also admitted two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, 14 counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of taking indecent photos of a child, four counts of making indecent photos of a child, six counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act, two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of possessing indecent photos of a child. They related to nine victims aged between 12 and 19.

But he denied that he had attempted to arrange to commit child sex offences, claiming that messages sent to girls asking them to meet were just fantasy.

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.”

He added: “It was Ian Naude’s job to enforce the law and protect the most vulnerable from harm. Instead he did the opposite ... his behaviour was disgusting and the impact was devastating.”

Police said the father-of-one, based at Crewe police station, would “scour the internet in search of young girls”, using platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Kik.

He 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.

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

When communicating with the girls, he would sometimes make them call him “daddy”.

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.

In messages via his “Jake Green” account that were presented to the court, one victim said she would kill herself.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Naude replied. “Just send me a few things and I’ll leave it baby.”

After two minutes, he replied threatening to sent explicit pictures to the girl’s friends. When she threatened to call the police, he said people would be “angry with her” and added: “Just send me what I want and we can both go back to enjoying our evenings.”

One of the victims said she would take her own life (Cheshire Police ) (Cheshire Police)

The court heard that after the rape was reported on 3 November, Naude was accidentally copied into a police email revealing the plan to arrest him. 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.

They revealed what investigators called a “large collection of indecent images and videos of children”.

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

He was suspended from duty and arrested the day after the girl’s parents reported rape, and later dismissed from Cheshire Police.

Det Ch Supt Duggan said the force was “committed to investigating any allegations of this nature – no matter who the alleged perpetrator is. Police officers are not above the law and will be treated in the same way as any other suspect.”

Acting Chief Constable Janette McCormick has personally apologised to the family of the rape victim, and said the case had prompted a lot of “soul searching” among officers.

“In light of this case, the 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,” she added. “He didn’t join to be a police officer, he joined as a predator.”

Ms McCormick said the force had changed its processes so if there was a delay in the recruitment process of more than three months, further checks would be carried on national police systems.

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

Additional reporting by PA