Policeman shocked over child sex abuse arrest

John Stringer denies five charges relating to the sexual abuse of a child

A police officer accused of sexually abusing a girl has described his “shock” when he was arrested.

John Stringer, 42, told Cardiff Crown Court he had been a police officer for 14 years and had “a good record”.

Mr Stringer is charged with two counts of sexual assault, two of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one of causing a child to watch a sexual act.

The Gwent Police officer, who has been suspended since his arrest, denies touching a girl inappropriately or making her watch pornography.

During Thursday's hearing he described to the jury an incident where the girl had been lying on a sofa and he was sitting on the edge of it.

He said another child knocked him over towards the girl and he inadvertently brushed against her.

“The whole thing lasted about 10 seconds,” he said, adding the girl was “laughing about it”.

Mr Stringer said he had been diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease, and had been researching online about whether performing sexual acts on himself would help ease symptoms.

Asked about the day of his arrest, he told the court it was “a shock”.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, asked Mr Stringer about his use of pornography.

The court heard experts had carried out a full file examination on his iPhone, which had been seized following his arrest, and found 21,670 internet search history records including about 4,000 searches for pornographic websites.

They accounted for around 18% of the search engine’s cache.

Mr Wright said there were no indecent images of children on the handset, but added: “Effectively every five or six times you accessed the internet, it would be to access porn?”

“Yes,” replied Mr Stringer who added he would only access the sites on his mobile phone and would always delete the browsing history, to protect someone else who had access to his phone.

He denied having a particular interest in videos showing young females performing sexual acts but said he had viewed some “at some point”.

He also denied an accusation that he had told the girl he was lonely and wanted a girlfriend.

He agreed it would be a “wholly inappropriate conversation given her age.”

Giving evidence to the court previously, the girl said Mr Stringer had touched her inappropriately under a blanket and her clothing and would show her videos of half-naked women and ask her to "mimic" their actions.

John Stringer took the stand in the fourth day of his trial at Cardiff Crown Court

Jennifer Davies, a mental healthcare practitioner, told the court she had known Mr Stringer since the age of 16 when they studied sports sciences together.

“He was always the most sensible one on our course,” she said, adding he was “committed to his studies”.

She said they lost touch when he moved to New Zealand to play rugby but reconnected six or seven years ago in her role as a rugby coach.

She said he was a “very likeable character and everyone got on very well with him”,

James Tucker, defending, asked her Ms Davies if she had ever had any concerns about Mr Stringer being around children.

“No concerns at all. I still don’t,” she replied.

Mr Stringer became emotional in the dock as other witness statements were read out by Mr Tucker, describing him as “a genuinely nice man” who was “open and honest” and “would do anything for anyone”.

The trial continues.