Mother of baby raped by Royal Navy officer says the paedophile should NEVER be released

The mother of a baby who was raped by a ‘manipulative and conniving, predatory paedophile’ has said he should have been jailed for life after he offended again within months of being released from prison.

Former Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Geoffrey Rooney was jailed for 14 years in 2015 for a series of sickening sexual offences against children, including babies.

Rooney, 46, was released from prison in January 2021 after serving half that sentence, but Bradford Crown Court heard how he was caught in a police sting operation later that year.

A judge described how the former senior NCO engaged in ‘disgusting’ online chats with two undercover police officers during which he arranged to engage in sexual activity with their fictional children and sent them vile photographs and videos of abuse.

On Friday, Judge David Hatton QC jailed Rooney for eight years with an extended licence of six years due to the danger he poses, especially to small children.

The court heard he has already been recalled to serve the full 14 years sentence for his previous offending, imposed by Plymouth Crown Court in 2015.

Judge Hatton explained that legislation which imposed an automatic life sentence for a second ‘listed’ offence only applied if he intended to pass a sentence in excess of 10 years for the new offences.

The judge said the images sent to the officers by Rooney were ‘grotesque and defy description’.

The mother of two of his original victims was in court to hear Rooney being jailed again.

Speaking outside court, she said the law should be changed to make sure repeat offenders are jailed for life and she described Friday’s sentence as ‘absolutely outrageous’.

The woman said: ‘I’d like him to have a life sentence because he’s such a danger to the public. I think he should never come out of prison again.’

She said: ‘This allows him to be out at some point which I think is terrifying.’

The mother, who cannot be identified, said: ‘He’s not learnt anything from his time inside.

‘He’s not rehabilitated. He’s just come out and done exactly what he wanted to do, which is to abuse other children.

‘He is incredibly dangerous. He has an intrinsic compulsion to attack children. He is just an incredibly dangerous man.’

The mother of two of his original victims was in court to hear Rooney being jailed again. Speaking outside court, she said the law should be changed to make sure repeat offenders are jailed for life and she described Friday’s sentence as ‘absolutely outrageous’. Pictured, Rooney with a baby and a toddler

The woman said her family has been ‘devastated’ by what Rooney did to her children and ‘the deep-rooted pain and suffering we experienced at the hands of that evil man’.

She said: ‘He a manipulative and conniving predatory paedophile whose only thoughts are for himself and his sick perversions.

‘Despite being assessed as safe for release on licence, he was clearly unable to control his urges and offended again with six months.

‘He is a danger to all children and should be locked up for the public’s safety.

‘He is a devious manipulative rapist who preyed on very young children.’

Rooney, of Moore Avenue, Bradford, has previous admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order as well as charges relating to sending indecent images of children.

The paedophile was once well-respected in the Navy and had postings to Whitehall in 2009 and 2010 which saw him work alongside come of Britain’s top commanders.

Rooney was once a trusted Navy officer who was posted to Whitehall in 2009 and 2010 (file image)

But between late 2013 and early 2014 he carried out a series of sex attacks on children, some of which he photographed on his mobile phone.

Rooney was tracked down after a woman called police and said she had found indecent images of children which had been emailed to her husband.

Rooney’s emails which contained indecent images of children also had requests for the man to allow his own children to be sexually abused.

Police found Rooney had sent pictures to another paedophile showing him abusing a sleeping child.

Rooney admitted raping a girl under 13, sexually assaulting another young girl, taking indecent photos of kids, sexually assaulting a boy and making, possessing and distributing child porn images.

Sentencing him at Plymouth Crown Court in 2015, Judge Paul Darlow described him as a ‘casual, callous predatory paedophile’. 

A mother whose children were just a baby and toddler at the time of the offences previously said Rooney’s crimes had hugely damaged her and children’s lives.

She said: ‘When the police told me, I started shaking uncontrollably. They came around five days later and showed us the pictures. He told the police they were my children. But we still needed to look at the pictures to identify them.

‘It was just disgusting. I felt so physically sick. I just broke down and could not carry on. The image was imprinted on my mind.’ 

The mother added: ‘The images will stay with us for the rest of our lives. They have caused a lot of trauma. That feeling of violation is never going to go away.

‘(My children) had to be taken away to be medically examined. They had to have a lot of tests. Every time I took them out they were really nervous – we had to go to a few different clinics.

‘I could not face it. One of my daughters had a mental health assessment and has needed speech therapy and I have had to receive counselling.’

Rooney was arrested after an image of him abusing the woman’s baby was found on his mobile phone. 

The mother expressed her anger at Rooney’s sentence, which means he will be freed in just six years.

The mother said that it was Rooney’s seemingly normal existence that made his crimes more chilling. 

She said: ‘He was not your stereotype of a paedophile and that is the scariest thing. He was a respected sailor in the Navy, who would have had to go through the strongest of background checks to work in Whitehall.

‘He was really sneaky, horrible and manipulative. It was scary just how confident he was. What we have been through is every mother’s worst nightmare.

‘If I had any advice for others it would be to always believe what your children say, go with your gut feeling and listen to what they are saying.’

After the case, investigator Det Con Pete Shotton said: ‘(Rooney) was utterly driven by his preoccupation with child sexual abuse. That one little phone call has uncovered one of the nastiest predatory paedophiles we’ve dealt with. He gloried in it.’ 

The defendant lived in Plymouth when his original offences were committed but moved to Bradford after he was released from prison last year.