Met police constable Francois Olwage jailed for five and a half years for child sex offences after taking condoms, lubricants, and erection pills to meet 13-year-old outside Basingstoke McDonalds

Francois Olwage has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison at Winchester Crown Court.

The detective constable was convicted of grooming what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, Caitlin, that he met on the Lycos online chat forum, nicknamed Smile Bear.

Winchester Crown Court heard ‘Smile Bear’, Caitlin’s nickname on the message board, was a police officer.

The Court heard the 52-year-old defendant arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Basingstoke by two undercover officers.

Jurors heard he was about to buy a McFlurry ice cream to take to his meeting with ‘Caitlin’, with police finding two condoms, a bottle of lubricant and a packet of Tadalafil erectile disfunction tablets in his bag.

Sentencing Olwage, Judge Jane Miller QC told him: ‘You were a highly regarded police officer with considerable experience.

‘You were expected to uphold the law but by trying to take advantage of a vulnerable child, albeit fictional, you showed a disregard for the public trust and confidence that is held in your office.’

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When he was sentenced, Olwage told the court that he assumed Smile Bear was an adult ‘playing out a fantasy’, and not a 13-year-old girl.

He denied having sexual interest in children.

Olwage was convicted of attempted sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to engage in sexual activity, and attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming.

At the start of the trial, he also pleaded guilty to improperly exercising his police powers and privileges in order to receive the ‘benefit of sexual gratification’.