Ex-cop is found guilty of having sex with underage girl multiple times – including at the police station – after claiming he thought she was of age when they met on Tinder
- Troy Robert Cridland faced court on Friday
- He was found to have knowingly had sex with underage girl
A former NSW Police officer has been found guilty of knowingly having sex with an underage girl on several occasions.
The Lismore District Court, in northern NSW, on Friday found ex-cop Troy Robert Cridland had sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 28 between March and August in 2020.
Cridland had pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child aged between 14 and 16, but following a four-week trial a jury rejected his claims.
He admitting to having sex with the girl, and cheating on his partner at the time, but denied he knew she was under the age of 16.
The jury handed down their verdict in less than two-and-a-half-hours, with Cridland also found guilty of using the girl to create child abuse material by asking her for nude photos, as well as attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The former policeman was accused of having sex with her while under his authority including at the police station and in a police car.
Former NSW Police officer Troy Robert Cridland (above) has been found guilty of knowingly having sex with an underage girl while he was a policeman in 2020
Cridland said he first met the girl on Tinder in February of 2020.
The court heard the first time the pair had sex was in a tent inside the police station garage on Mother’s Day, The Daily Telegraph reported.
If Cridland could have proved he made an ‘honest and reasonable mistake’ in believing the girl was 16 and could legally give consent, he could have been found not guilty.
Cridland provided screenshots of a Tinder conversation he claimed to have had with the girl where he alleges she lied about her age.
However, the prosecution accused Cridland of using fake Tinder accounts to manufacture the conversation to clear his name.
‘This is fake news. These [Tinder screenshots] are fake messages,’ the prosecutor said, the ABC reported.
The prosecution also claimed CCTV footage shot outside the police station showed Cridland, the girl and her mother going through her phone to find incriminating messages.
It also alleged he told the teen: ‘If they ask you if you were in a police car, say no.’
The jury heard the girl’s family had raised concerns about her being bullied at school with Cridland before he had a sexual encounter with the child.
Cridland was in uniform and used a police vehicle during his encounters with the girl, hence why the court found he had authority over her.
An officer who worked alongside Cridland at the time also confirmed he was present for a conversation about the teenager being underage, which Cridland denies.
The prosecution found the underage girl had told several lies while under cross-examination but said they weren’t ‘particularly clever’, especially when compared to Cridland’s ‘calculated deceit’.
Cridland was taken into custody and will be sentenced at a later date.
Cridland tried to argue he did not know the girl was underage when they had sex and said they’d met on Tinder where she claimed to be 16 (stock image)
