Court hears Gwent police officer sexually abused girl

A police officer on duty sexually abused a child under the age of 13, a court heard.

John Stringer, 42, from Cardiff, denies five charges related to the sexual abuse of a child.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Mr Stringer, who works for Gwent Police, was arrested after the girl spoke to a teaching assistant at her school.

Prosecutor Ian Wright told the jury the girl claimed Mr Stringer had touched her “in a sexual manner”.

He added that she claimed Mr Stringer would “show her videos of half-naked girls” and “make her imitate what the women in the video were doing.”

Mr Wright said the girl's parents were called to the school and police were contacted.

Mr Stringer was arrested later that day.

The court heard that the girl gave a recorded interview to police in the following days.

In it, she said that Mr. Stringer insisted that the girl do what he told her, despite her reluctance.

The court heard the girl claimed he said it would be “her fault” if her parents found out what had happened and got him into trouble.

Mr. Stringer pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault: two counts of inducing or soliciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in a sexual act and one count of inducing a child to watch a sexual act.