A former police officer's conduct in grooming a 15-year-old girl he met while investigating nude photos she circulated "can only be described as predatory", a court has been told.
Matthew Paul Hockley made sexual and suggestive comments to the girl after adding her on Snapchat days after interviewing her over the photographs.
The pair exchanged more than 1000 chat messages and 30 images over three weeks from July 30, 2019.
In messages photographed by the girl the 33-year-old wrote, "heading home to get naked and relax" and "rather be chillin with you".
In another he said, "I was so cold last night. Needed you to warm me up".
The former officer was also accused of inviting the girl on holiday, telling her he slept naked and calling her "beautiful" in some messages to her.
Hockley admitted to adding the teenager on social media and sending her messages, saying he was interested in her mother.
But a jury found him guilty of using the internet to procure a child and grooming a child with intent to procure a sexual act.
Hockley was a senior constable working at the Inala Child Protection and Investigation Unit in Brisbane at the time he committed the crimes, but was stood down after being charged, before resigning late last year.
The former officer was in a significant position of trust in relation to the teenager and children generally, crown prosecutor Judy Geary told the Brisbane District Court on Friday.
"His role was to protect children and his offending is a complete breach of their trust in him," she added.
"His conduct can only be described as predatory."
Ms Geary called for Hockley to be sentenced to up to three years behind bars for his "brazen and persistent" efforts at corrupting the vulnerable teenager.
But defence barrister Matt Black said the former officer would be at risk of harm if sentenced to time in jail.
"There's ... the risk of specific people in jail who might have a grudge and ... the risk of those with more general distaste for police officers," he added.
Mr Black said if Hockley was jailed his experience in prison would be more difficult and burdensome with authorities needing to protect him against those risks.
Calling for the father-of-two to serve a community-based sentence, Mr Black told the court "public shaming" due to media reports on the trial should be taken into account.
Once Hockley had served his sentence, he would have a conviction but also "always be confronted with that extensive publicity" that could cause him difficulties.
The jury found Hockley guilty on the two charges on Tuesday, after a five-day trial and nearly six hours of deliberating.
But he was found not guilty on one count of grooming a child under 16 with intent to expose to indecent matter.
Judge Bernard Porter is expected to hand down his sentence on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
