Met Police special constable found guilty of rape and sexual assault of a child

Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing

A volunteer Metropolitan Police special constable has been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child.

James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, groomed one of his two victims online before sexually assaulting her when she was just 12 years old.

When the offences took place, Bubb identified as male. During the police investigation, Bubb changed their name and began identifying as a transgender woman.

Courts heard the officer sexually assaulted the girl in public shortly before her 13th birthday, and was forced to pull his trousers up after a dog walker went past him.

Jurors heard Bubb was violent towards the girl when he raped and sexually abused her in her early teens, with the victim telling police he choked and punched her.

The 27-year-old was also found guilty of raping a woman he met online while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

All the charges took place between January 2018 and April 2024.

On Thursday, in relation to one victim, Bubb was found 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.

He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child in relation to that same victim, and found guilty of one count of rape against another.

Bubb, dressed in a black cardigan, glasses and a cream shirt, showed no reaction as the verdicts were read but broke down in tears with their head in their hands after the foreman finished speaking.

‘Creating control’

The court heard that Bubb met his first victim on the video chat roulette site Omegle in 2018 before meeting her in person a few months later at a Christian festival.

The girl told police Bubb looked “paranoid” when they were together in public and kept her “hidden,” even though her child wristband from the festival was clearly visible.

She also said Bubb often spoke “a lot about the powers he had” as a Metropolitan Police special constable.

The court was also told that Bubb raped his second victim, a woman he met online when she had just turned 18, during their on-off relationship between January 2018 and February 2023.

She told police that Bubb used “BDSM and kink as a way of creating control” over her and “would use police training techniques” during the abuse.

“The control, the power he got,” she said. “It sure as hell wasn’t consensual.”

Bubb, from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, will be sentenced at a later date.

Detective Constable Kirsty Pendle, from Thames Valley Police, said officers “keep an open mind as to any other offending committed by this defendant” and described Bubb as “a dangerous, predatory sex offender”.

The investigating officer added in the statement: “The abuse inflicted on the victims by the defendant was appalling, therefore I am pleased the jury has convicted the defendant of a number of offences on the indictment.

“I would like to commend the courage and bravery shown by the victims in coming forward and reporting these crimes and their strength throughout this investigation and court proceedings.”

Anyone with information about Bubb is asked to contact the force, quoting the investigation name Operation Aspect.

After the verdict, a spokesperson for the NSPCC child protection charity said: “As a special constable, Bubb should have been someone who could be relied on to keep children safe.

“It is now vital that both the victims in this disturbing case receive all the support they need to move forwards with their lives.

“Bubb’s actions also highlight once again how tech companies need to be doing much more to make their platforms safe spaces for children and young people when they go online.”