A police officer who had sex with a Redbridge schoolgirl he groomed online has been jailed for four years today.
Pc John Wigglesworth, 46, made contact with the girl on social network Netlog.
He arranged to pick her up from school and take her to his home in Chadwell Heath for “kissing and cuddling”.
The officer later took her home for a second time where they had sex.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Wigglesworth was hit by “this blinding realisation” that what he was doing was wrong and tried to end to the relationship.
The girl, now in her 20s, claimed the officer repeatedly raped her, but he was cleared of three counts of rape and two of sexual activity with a child.
He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child after accepting they had consensual sex and that he was a “weirdo”.
Wigglesworth maintained he made a “stupid, stupid error” and “thoroughly regrets” getting involved with the girl.
“I’ve got no doubt in my mind that it was consensual,” he told officers.
“She never cried, she never said no, she never told me to get off.”
Ailsa Williamson, for Wigglesworth, said: “It is clear that the victim felt she could trust the defendant because he was a police officer.”
Wigglesworth was suspended following his arrest and now faces being booted out of the force.
Judge David Radford said: “You have brought disgrace upon yourself and thereby the service which gave you your livelihood for several years and which serves the communities in London which it polices.”
Wigglesworth, of The Ridgeway, Harold Wood, Romford, was handed a four-year sentence, made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offender’s register indefinitely.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here