A police officer from the United Kingdom is being charged on Monday with raping a young girl multiple times before “deliberately” wiping the evidence on his phone to prevent himself from being prosecuted.
James Ford, a 31-year-old response officer for the Hertfordshire Police, was charged with having an illicit sexual relationship with a minor under 13 years of age, with the police officer denying the charges that were made against him, according to BBC.
Ford, who previously resided in Bishop's Stortford, was charged with the following crimes: four counts of rape of a child under 13, two counts of assaulting a child by penetration, two counts of sexual assault against a child and two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, Mirror reported.
The many sexual acts that Ford did with the child reportedly spanned over two years, from late 2019 to late 2021.
Beyond that he is also being charged with attempting to pervert justice and cover his tracks by “deliberately [wiping] his phone by factory resetting his Samsung mobile phone,” which he had previously claimed during an interview was an accidental move. He later admitted that he erased the data on the phone because he was having an illicit affair with a woman.
Being tried at the Cambridge Crown Court for the next seven or eight days, Ford has denied the charges of sexually abusing and raping the young child, with Prosecutor Isobel Ascherson saying that Ford had denied doing the acts in a police interview, The Sun reported.
It is unclear as of now the condition of the young girl that Ford reportedly had an illicit relationship with, and whether or not she is undergoing treatment for her reported ordeal. It is also unclear if Ford has been fired or put on leave from the police force after being charged of the crimes.
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