Met Police officer jailed after having sex with 15-year-old rape victim he met on Tinder

A serving Met Police officer has been jailed for four years after being convicted of having sex with a child rape victim.

PC James Evans, 26, exchanged sexually explicit messages with a vulnerable 15-year-old girl on the dating app Tinder before meeting face-to-face.

She performed a sex act on him in a car as he drove her home from a meeting with child mental health services.

Despite knowing she was underage and a rape victim, he took the girl took his flat in Ruislip, west London, where they had full intercourse.

Evans, who served as an officer in the borough of Ealing, was arrested on 29 January following a report made to police by the victim's mother.

The offences were said to have taken place between 31 December 2015 and 28 January 2016 while the officer was off-duty.

He pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with a child at Isleworth Crown Court and was sentenced to fours years' imprisonment on Tuesday (30 August). He has also been added to the sex offender's register for life.

The court heard how the abuse had a "severe" effect on the victim, with her since taken to hospital several times after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

Rt Hon Judge Robin Johnson told Evans: "Before any sexual activity, you knew she was a vulnerable young girl. Nevertheless you allowed your own desire to overcome your better judgement. The reason why parliament and the public take this kind of offending so seriously is because the harm caused in these cases is incalculable. Her victim impact statement makes for sad reading, and I have no doubt this episode has caused her serious psychological harm."

The Met Police said a misconduct review will take place now criminal proceedings had concluded.

Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Gardner, Commander of the Directorate of Professional Standards, said: "It is the duty of police to protect from harm, not to seek to cause it and this duty is especially important for the most vulnerable in our society including children.

"PC Evans' behaviour has fallen well short of the high standards that we expect. He has abused the trust placed in him by society and will now have to pay the penalty for his appalling actions in prison."