A volunteer police officer who used his position of authority to silence and control his victims has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after being convicted of raping a child and sexually assaulting multiple victims over several years.
Gwyn Samuels, formerly known as James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman, was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on Thursday. His Honour Judge Jonathan Cooper described the offending as demonstrating “inherent brutality” and noted a complete absence of remorse, with Samuels having consistently portrayed themselves as the victim of false allegations throughout proceedings. Samuels will serve a minimum of 16 years before becoming eligible for parole, with a further eight years on licence during which they can be recalled to custody. In accordance with government policy, Samuels will be held in a male prison.
The court heard that Samuels, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, first encountered their primary victim on the online platform Omegle in 2018, when the girl was 12 years old. After grooming her over a period of months, the pair met in person at a Christian festival, where Samuels sexually assaulted her in a public setting shortly before her 13th birthday. The abuse continued into her early teens and included rape, choking and physical violence. Samuels repeatedly invoked their role as a Metropolitan Police special constable as a tool of control, with the victim recalling how the defendant would reference “the powers he had” with the Met to suppress her from speaking out.
Samuels began volunteering with the Met’s Central West team in September 2020 and was suspended immediately following their arrest by Thames Valley Police on 30 April 2024. They were dismissed without notice in September last year, after being convicted, and placed on the College of Policing barred list. During the same period, Samuels had worked as a member of support staff at Harrow School — whose former pupils include Sir Winston Churchill and six British Prime Ministers — between 2018 and April 2024. The school said it terminated the contract as soon as it was informed of the arrest, which Samuels had not disclosed. Police stated there was nothing to suggest any offending took place on school premises.
A second victim, who was 18 when the abuse began, told the court that Samuels deployed what she described as police training techniques to exert control over her. She became pregnant during the period of abuse but suffered a miscarriage. “I was glad that I miscarried,” she told the court, “so that this monster would not have any power over me or my child.”
Now aged 20, the first victim addressed the court directly. “No child should ever be made to feel that way,” she said, “let alone by a police officer, an adult, a trusted person.” She said she now struggles to trust others and lives with complex PTSD as a direct result of the abuse.
Sentencing Samuels, the judge said: “You abused the most intimate trust of each of your victims. In each case you systematically groomed your victim, first to befriend them, then to abuse them, finally to bend them to your will.”
Thames Valley Police Detective Sergeant Catriona Cameron said investigators could not rule out the existence of further victims, describing Samuels as “very dangerous and very predatory” in their offending. The NSPCC called for greater action from technology companies to make online platforms safer for children, stating that Samuels’ case once again highlighted the risks young people face online.
The offences spanned from January 2018 to April 2024. Samuels was also acquitted of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child.
