Pc sacked after targeting care girl, 14, for sex

A MET policeman has been sacked after pursuing a 14-year-old girl for sex.

Pc Robert Nicholson first met the girl at Bethnal Green police station where he was a jailer in the custody suite and she was under arrest. He was 27 at the time.

He asked for her phone number and next day he sent her 17 text messages, to which he received replies. The Independent Police Complaints Commission later found the pair exchanged hundreds of texts and Facebook messages which developed "emotional and sexual elements". They also spoke on the phone and the girl, who was in care, was led to believe they were in a relationship.

In December 2009, two months after their first encounter, they met up again in Romford for several hours, during which time the girl was reported missing from her care home.

The officer was found not guilty in November last year of two charges of sexual activity with a child. However, today the IPCC announced he had been sacked with notice after a misconduct hearing found he had formed an inappropriate relationship with the girl, and that he used police databases to access records on her which would have highlighted her age and vulnerability.

IPCC Commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, said: "Pc Nicholson's actions were a disgraceful abuse of his position."