Met police officer who was posted at school admits child sexual offences

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A serving Metropolitan police officer who was posted in a north London school has pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse offences.

PC Hussain Chehab, 22, admitted four counts of sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15, three counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and sexual communication with a child. He appeared at Wood Green crown court on Tuesday and will be sentenced on 17 March.

There was no evidence that linked any of Chehab’s offending to his school role, the force said.

Chehab joined the Met in March 2020 and was attached to the North Area Command Unit, serving as a safer schools officer in a secondary school in Enfield between May and August 2021.

The family of a 16-year-old girl raised concerns with police in July 2021, reporting she had recently been in a relationship with Chehab which they believed began when she was 15, the Met said.

Chehab was arrested in August 2021 and placed on restricted duties, including having to work within the confines of a police building in a non-public-facing role, and having no contact with schools or children.

A spokesperson for the Met said investigators found a number of indecent images when they seized his digital devices, and he was arrested for further offences and suspended from duty in October 2021.

When police analysed his devices, they found messages between Chehab and a 14-year-old girl engaging in sexual communication. The teenager later provided evidence to police that they had entered into a sexual relationship in 2019, when she was 14.

DCS Caroline Haines said: “Our thoughts foremost today are with the young girls who Chehab exploited and took advantage of for his own sexual gratification.

“These offences are made all the more sickening by the fact that some of the image offences were committed while PC Chehab was in a role as a safer schools officer attached to a secondary school in Enfield between May 2021 and his arrest in August 2021.”

She added: “This news will of course cause considerable damage and concern, not only to the local community, but Londoners as a whole, who place their trust in police officers to go into our schools alongside their children every day and keep them safe.

“While no evidence has been found linking any of Chehab’s offending to his role, we are engaging with our local schools, community forums and independent advisory groups to reassure them following the damage his actions will have caused.

“The Met continues to ruthlessly target those who corrupt our identity. We have made it clear there is no place for the likes of PC Chehab in the Met and will take quick and immediate action to arrest and prosecute anyone who commits such abhorrent criminal acts, and will work to quickly remove them from the organisation.”

During the court hearing, no verdict was recorded in an additional four counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and the judge ordered they be left to lie on file.

The Met said an accelerated misconduct process had been initiated for Chehab and would be held as quickly as possible.