Met detective jailed after trying to meet '13-year-old girl' for sex while on duty

27 April 2022, 11:01 | Updated: 27 April 2022, 13:52

A counter-terror officer from the Met Police has been jailed for arranging to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex while he was on duty.

Detective Constable Francois Olwage was found guilty of three child sex offences after he tried to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Olwage, 52, who was working in the Met’s specialist operations unit, was accused of "grooming" what he thought was a 13-year-old girl he met on the Lycos online chat forum.

She was actually an undercover officer pretending to be the girl, working under the username "Smile Bear", then using the name Caitlin on WhatsApp.

Olwage, from Stevenage, tried to meet her as he spent two weeks exchanging sexually explicit conversations.

While on duty, but working from home, he travelled by train to meet "Cailtin" in Basingstoke, where she said she lived.

But he was instead arrested at a McDonald's by two undercover officers as he went to bought a McFlurry for his meeting with the girl.

A search found two condoms in his bag, a bottle of Wilko's brand lubricant and a pack of Tadalafil erectile disfunction tablet.

Olwage, 52, also had a box of Ferrero Rocher tablets, which are thought to have been a present for "Caitlin".

He was convicted of engaging in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause/incite a girl aged 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming.

He also pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to an offence of improperly exercising his police powers and privileges in order to receive the "benefit of sexual gratification" by travelling to meet the girl while on duty.

He was suspended on his arrest but who remains a serving officer until a misconduct hearing on May 31, also denied any sexual interest in children.

Adrienne Knight, defending, said that Olwage, who had served with the Met for nine years and seven years for Hertfordshire Constabulary, had submitted a letter expressing his "sorrow for what he had done".

She said: "There can be no doubt he was trying to find a relationship, trying to find love.

"He wasn't looking for a 13-year-old but stumbled across it because of the way the police have encroached on these websites.

"If the police hadn't been on Lycos that day, he wouldn't have been before the courts."

She added: "This isn't entrapment but this was very close indeed."

Senior crown Prosecutor Marc Thompson from the CPS said: "Olwage's messages made it clear he believed he was in contact with a child. Despite this belief, he exchanged messages about sexual acts, and was grooming her.

"On the day he planned to meet with his victim, he abandoned his police duties to pursue sexual gratification from someone he believed to be a child.

"No actual children were in danger, but it has given us a glimpse into what this man is capable of doing when he thinks he can rely on the anonymity of the internet.

"This is made all the more serious because he has broken the trust of the public he has sworn to protect."