Former police special constable jailed for raping child

A former police special constable has been jailed for 24 years after being found guilty of a series of sex offences including the rape of a child.

James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, assaulted the victim multiple times when she was between the ages of 12 and 18.

Samuels was sentenced to a total of 32 years, made up of 24 years' imprisonment and a further eight years on extended licence, at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday.

The ex-Metropolitan Police volunteer sexually assaulted the child in public shortly before her 13th birthday.

A jury found Samuels guilty of one count of raping a child under 13, one count of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of assault by penetration.

She was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child in relation to that complainant, but was also found guilty of one count of rape against a second person.

In sentencing, Judge Jonathan Cooper said Samuels "abused the most intimate trust of your victims" in "a campaign of abuse against each that was intended to break their will entirely".

Samuels, who identified as a male at the time of the offences, made contact with both victims online, the first in 2018, when the former police volunteer was around 21 and she was 12 years old.

They then met in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months later, the court was told.

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The second complainant was a woman Samuels met online while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

They met when the woman had just turned 18, and were in an on-off relationship between January 2018 and February 2023.

Samuels started training with the Met in 2020. The first victim said the defendant spoke "a lot about the powers he had" in their role as a special constable.

The second complainant said Samuels used "BDSM and kink as a way of creating control" over her, and that he would "use police training techniques" on her.

"The control, the power he got, it sure as hell wasn't consensual," she told police.

The judge said he understood the defendant, who has been in the male prison estate while in custody, will stay there.

"The key point is that you are a very significant risk to women," Judge Cooper said.

"This is not predicated on your trans status, but on your criminal status."

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