January 2011

Policeman jailed for sex abuse on three young girls

A police officer who sexually abused young girls more than a decade ago has been jailed.

Pc Sean Smith, 30, was living in Denton, Tameside, at the time of the assaults in the 1990s.

Smith joined the army after his crimes and served in Oman and Germany, before joining the Metropolitan Police in 2008.

The defendant, who lives with his partner and their young daughter, was a ‘troubled young man’ in his teens when he abused the children, a court was told.

His actions only came to light years later when one of the victims told her mum what Smith had done.

Smith had denied all the charges but was found guilty, after a trial, of nine offences of indecent assault against three girls.

He was jailed for three years at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday.

Smith – who lives in Dartford, Kent – was placed on restrictive duties at Eltham Police Station following his arrest and has since left the police force.

After the first allegation, in 2009, two other girls came forward and said Smith had also sexually abused them.

The youngest of the three gave evidence in Smith’s trial.

She told the court that she first told her father what had happened, and said: “He went crazy. He was shouting and throwing things about.”

She said he told her to write down what Smith had done to her, and she did, but no action was taken.

She said: “He wanted to take him to court, but he didn’t want to put me under the pressure of court.”

Smith was arrested in September 2009 and denied all allegations, claiming the girls must have been ‘put up to it’.

James Doyle, defending Smith, told the judge: “You are now to sentence a man aged 30, who is a very different person to that troubled young man back in the late 1990s.

“There are many good and positive features to his life since the commission of these offences.”

But jailing Smith, Judge Leslie Hull said: “The offences are too serious for community punishment to be a realistic option.”