A former Metropolitan Police special constable has been sentenced to 32 years following conviction for a string of serious sexual offences, including the rape of a child who was just 12 years old when the abuse began.
James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday — 24 years in custody plus a further eight years on extended licence. The offences involved two separate victims and took place over a period of several years.
The first victim was a child whom Samuels contacted online in 2018, when Samuels was around 21 and she was 12. The pair met in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months after making contact. The abuse that followed included multiple assaults occurring between the time she was 12 and 18, with one assault taking place in public shortly before her 13th birthday. The jury found Samuels guilty of raping a child under 13, sexual activity with a child, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and assault by penetration.
The second complainant was a woman Samuels had approached online while posing as a 16-year-old girl. They met when she had just turned 18 and were in an on-off relationship between January 2018 and February 2023. Samuels was found guilty of one count of rape in relation to this victim. The second complainant told police that Samuels used “BDSM and kink as a way of creating control” and deployed police training techniques during the offending. “The control, the power he got, it sure as hell wasn’t consensual,” she said.
Samuels began training as a Metropolitan Police special constable in 2020. The first victim told the court that Samuels spoke frequently about the powers the role carried, a detail that formed part of the broader picture of control described by both complainants.
Samuels identified as male at the time the offences were committed. The conviction adds to a series of cases that have raised questions about the vetting procedures applied to those seeking roles within policing, including volunteer positions. Samuels was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child in relation to the first complainant.
