Revealed: Paedophile officer was grooming suspect before force hired him
A paedophile police officer who raped a teenage girl was named as a suspect in three cases before he was appointed to the force, it has emerged.
Ian Naude, 30, was a serving police constable when he was arrested in November 2017 following a report of the rape and sexual assault of the 13-year-old, who he met after being called to a domestic incident at her house.
The father-of-one from Market Drayton, who groomed teenage girls online, had been due to join Cheshire Police as a student officer in January 2017.
The force said the recruitment process was put on hold following an allegation he had raped a woman in Staffordshire.
But, 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.
Allegations
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.
Those two reports became part of the Cheshire Police investigation into Naude, which saw him plead guilty to 30 charges, including inciting children to engage in sexual activity and making indecent photos of children, and found guilty of rape, sexual assault and five offences relating to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence.
An investigation by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) into the vetting process and employment of Naude found there was no case to answer for misconduct for any individual officer.
Acting chief constable Janette McCormick, who has personally apologised to the family of the rape victim, said the case had prompted a lot of "soul searching" among officers.
She said: "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."
Change in processes
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 on police systems and complaint records are also now undertaken for all officers completing the probation period of two years and training of new staff has been reviewed.
She said: "He didn't join to be a police officer, he joined as a predator."
Investigations into Naude 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."
Ms McCormick said officers had gone through records of all the contact Naude had with people as an officer and there were investigations continuing as a result.
She said colleagues in the force had been "rocked and shocked" as details of Naude's offending had been revealed.
The senior officer added: "I am disgusted, appalled, angry at the behaviour of Ian Naude, his predatory behaviour and how he groomed young girls.
"Thankfully, the bravery of that one girl to come forward meant that we arrested him the day after, we suspended him, we have disciplined him and removed him from the organisation."
