James Ford: Hertfordshire Police officer who raped child is jailed

James Ford, an intervention officer for Hertfordshire Police, was found guilty of 10 counts of sex offences against the same girl

A judge has described a serving police officer who raped a child a "disgrace" before jailing him.

James Ford, an intervention officer for Hertfordshire Police, was found guilty of committing 10 sexual offences against the same girl.

Mr Justice Bryan described the case as a "horrific catalogue of serious sexual offending against a young child".

Ford, formerly of Bishop's Stortford, was jailed for 18 years and three months.

The judge said after the sentence Ford would serve extended period on licence of 12 months.

Ford was also found guilty of carrying out an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he "deliberately wiped his phone" by factory reset.

The judge said jurors were satisfied that Ford had wiped his phone as he "knew or suspected material relating to the offences" was on it.

He said this was consistent with the girl's evidence that Ford was "pointing (his) phone at her while acts of sexual abuse were going on".

James Ford was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday

The jury convicted him of four counts of raping a child under 13, two of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration, two of sexual assault against a child under 13 and two of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Ford joined Hertfordshire Police in 2019 and was a uniformed response officer based in the east of the county.

He was suspended in November 2021.

Sentencing him on Friday, Mr Justice Bryan said Ford's "appalling course of sexual offending pretty much spans the whole time during which you have been a serving police officer".

"As a serving police officer you, of all people, should have protected society against sexual abusers, and not have acted as a perpetrator of such vile crimes yourself," he said.

"You are a disgrace to your office and your conduct overshadows the countless occasions when brave officers behave with honour and propriety, and demand the greatest of respect from the public."

The girl's mother, in a statement read by prosecutor Isobel Ascherson, described Ford as a "disgusting excuse of a human being", adding: "No prison sentence is ever going to be long enough for what happened."

Ford was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order and given a restraining order in respect of the girl.

After his conviction, Assistant Chief Constable Genna Telfer said she was "disgusted" by Ford's actions and warned he would face a fast-track dismissal hearing.