Rape bid gun cop lured his victim with warrant card

A POLICE marksman who forced himself on a woman he befriended at a pub by showing off his warrant card was facing a lengthy prison sentence yesterday.

The victim’s neighbour raised the alarm after hearing her screaming at 1.30am. The neighbour then spotted Ernesto Ceraldi (pictured below) naked outside her house, a court heard.

Yesterday the 43-year-old firearms officer and dog handler admitted attempting to rape the woman and causing her actual bodily harm.

His predatory behaviour – last night branded ‘nothing short of deplorable’ by his deputy chief constable – is the latest example of male police officers abusing their position to target women.

Last year Wayne Couzens used his Met Police warrant card to lure marketing executive Sarah Everard into his car before raping and murdering her.

Ceraldi, who has served 21 years with Greater Manchester Police, is understood to be married with children.

He was off duty on a night out with friends in Edenfield, Lancashire, on April 2, when he met the victim, Preston Crown Court heard.

An earlier hearing before Blackburn magistrates was told he won the woman’s trust by showing her his warrant card and photographs of his police dog.

They went to her house where she accused him of pulling her hair, spitting at her and putting his hands around her throat, prosecutors said. At 1.30am a neighbour heard a commotion and saw her outside the house screaming for help alongside a naked Ceraldi.

When police arrived he was sitting on the sofa naked. He told officers the sex had been consensual. He was charged with rape and actual bodily harm. The rape charge was later changed to attempted rape. Remanding him back into custody, Judge Simon Medland told him: ‘Inevitably there will be a substantial and immediate sentence of imprisonment.’

Ceraldi, of no fixed address, also faces being sacked.

Afterwards Detective Inspector Carole Langhorn of Lancashire Police said: ‘This was an abhorrent crime. The appalling level of violence was particularly shocking.’ Manchester Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods said his actions were ‘deplorable and he does not represent what we as police officers stand for’. Almost 2,000 police and community support officers have been accused of sexual misconduct over the last four years.