A Metropolitan Police volunteer officer groomed a child after meeting her online, a court has heard.
Prosecutors said one of the alleged victims of the 27-year-old, who was born a man named James Bubb, but now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, was 12 years old when they first met.
The alleged victim said in a statement to police she did not realise at the time that she was “being groomed”, prosecutor Richard Milne said.
The defendant has denied one count of rape in relation to one complainant, and two counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration in relation to the other complainant.
Mr Milne told the court the defendant and the alleged victims would be referred to by their biological sex throughout the trial when discussing the allegations.
Amersham Law Courts heard that the defendant met the first alleged victim, a 12-year-old, in person at a festival while working there as a steward, and told her they were in a relationship, despite her wearing a “bracelet pass” for a child.
In his opening to the jury on Monday, Mr Milne said the first alleged victim met the defendant on a website.
The court heard their communications became sexual around a month after first meeting online, with the alleged victim describing their relationship as a “trauma bond”.
Mr Milne said: “He would tell (the first alleged victim) that they enjoyed being raped, to which (they) replied no.
“The Crown says this defendant befriended and sexually assaulted (the first complainant) just before her 13th birthday.”
He added that the defendant had sexual encounters with her when she was 13 to 15 years old, and then, after a gap, the prosecution says the defendant raped her when she was about 18 years of age.
The defendant was arrested on April 30 2024, their flat was searched and officers described it as “extremely messy and dirty”.
The defendant told police in a prepared statement when being interviewed that “he’d never had any non-consensual sex or act with (the first complainant)”, then made no comment to questions, the prosecution said.
The prosecution told the court the likely defences will be that no sexual activity took place in relation to the one complainant when she was under age, and in relation to the charges alleged to have taken place when the same complainant was over 16, that the sex was consensual.
The second complainant met the defendant online when she was 18-years-old, the court heard.
She said she and the defendant were “re-enacting a rape” and explained she would say no or stop and that was the signal.
Mr Milne said: “Even though they were re-enacting a rape, it meant James needed to stop.
“During the course of sexual intercourse she said she had said no and stop and he had simply carried on.”
The defendant used “officer training techniques” on the complainant, she said in her statement.
Mr Milne said: “He’d perform these on her without seeking her permission, when she was in these holds he’d start touching her sexually.”
All charges are alleged to have taken place between January 1 2018 to April 2 2024.
The defendant, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, denies all charges.
The trial continues.
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