Met Police Special Constable Convicted of Raping Child and Woman
A former Metropolitan Police special constable has been found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl and another woman, with the court hearing he used his police role to intimidate and control his victims. James Bubb, 28, who now identifies as a woman called Gwyn Samuels, was described by one victim as serving "nothing but evil behind closed doors" while wearing a police uniform.
Victims Speak Out in Powerful Court Statements
In a victim impact statement delivered at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday, the woman who was just 12 when Bubb began grooming her said the defendant was a "highly manipulative, narcissistic, grandiose and extremely dangerous individual." Speaking in a powerful voice that sometimes broke, she addressed Bubb directly in the dock.
"When the Metropolitan Police service hired you as a special constable, you swore under oath to protect the public and to give everything you had to fulfil your duties in safeguarding the most vulnerable of people," she said. "Yet before you headed to the police station and put on your uniform, you would make sure to get your fill of perversion, attempts at power, sickness and relentless abuse."
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, recalled Bubb telling her he had to make a "mental separation" between who he was at home and who he was when wearing his uniform. "I thought you were honourable for this," she said. "I now realise what you were trying to tell me. The same man that served the public, served nothing but evil behind closed doors."
Pattern of Abuse and Control
The offences took place between January 2018 and April 2024, during which time Bubb worked as support staff at the prestigious Harrow School, whose alumni include Sir Winston Churchill and six other British Prime Ministers. He began volunteering with the Met Police Central West team as a special constable in September 2020.
The court heard Bubb encountered his first victim on the chat roulette site Omegle in 2018 before meeting in person at a Christian festival a few months later. The volunteer officer sexually assaulted the girl in public shortly before her 13th birthday and was forced to pull his trousers up after a dog walker went past him.
Jurors were told Bubb was violent toward the girl when he raped and sexually abused her in her early teens, with the victim telling police he choked and punched her. The girl said the defendant looked "paranoid" when he was with her, and she was being "hidden" when they were in public together.
"I vividly remember being 12, already traumatised, already feeling that there was no real way out," she told the court. "No child should ever be made to feel that way, let alone by a police officer, an adult, a trusted person."
Second Victim Describes Similar Pattern
The court also heard Bubb raped his second victim, a woman he met when she had just turned 18, between January 2018 and February 2023. Speaking from behind a curtain, the second victim told the court that Samuels took advantage of a "vulnerable 18 year-old."
The victim said Bubb would "use police training techniques" on her, telling police: "The control, the power he got. It sure as hell wasn't consensual." She became pregnant but lost the baby, telling the court: "I was glad that I miscarried so that this monster would not have any power over me or my child."
Samuels told her she was "unlovable and no-one would want me," the woman recalled. She added there were times when she tried to leave but the defendant would take the key away or drag her back if she wanted to go out, leaving her feeling in the end that it was better to stay. Samuels also threatened her with 999 calls and being sectioned.
Police Response and Investigation
Thames Valley Police Detective Sergeant Catriona Cameron said the 27-year-old's actions were "absolutely" a breach of trust, and suggested Bubb may have more victims. "The investigation we led hasn't identified the defendant used his position to identify and meet victims, but there was an element that he used the fact that they are a special constable in order to intimidate," she said.
Ms Cameron explained that Bubb "used officer safety techniques and restraint on the victims as part of their offending." She added: "Absolutely, I mean, anybody as a police officer, in that position of trust, we get taught these things and we should only be using them as appropriate."
The detective sergeant said Bubb "identified a vulnerable child to start off with, groomed them" and then "used fear, intimidation, violence and weapons to abuse the child going forward over a number of years, so very dangerous and very predatory in his offending."
Aftermath and Consequences
Bubb was suspended immediately after his arrest by Thames Valley Police on April 30, 2024. He was dismissed without notice on September 26 last year following his conviction and placed on the College of Policing barred list. Jurors reached verdicts in August last year after deliberating for six hours and 32 minutes.
In a statement, Harrow School said: "We are aware that a former member of the School's support staff was convicted of sexual offences in August last year. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at this time. The safety and wellbeing of our pupils is always our highest priority."
The school confirmed Bubb was employed as a member of the School's support staff between 2018 and April 2024. "As soon as we were alerted by the authorities that this employee was subject to an investigation and had not disclosed his arrest to us, we terminated his contract," the statement continued.
After the verdict, a spokesperson for the NSPCC child protection charity said: "As a special constable, Bubb should have been someone who could be relied on to keep children safe. It is now vital that both the victims in this disturbing case receive all the support they need to move forwards with their lives."
The spokesperson added: "Bubb's actions also highlight once again how tech companies need to be doing much more to make their platforms safe spaces for children and young people when they go online."
The defendant, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, is due to be sentenced at the same court next Friday.
