Volleyball star jailed for raping Brit girl, 12, qualifies for Olympics

A VOLLEYBALL star jailed for raping a Brit girl has qualified for next month’s Paris Olympics.

Steven Van de Velde flew from his native Netherlands to the UK to meet his 12-year-old victim after grooming her on Facebook.

He was 19 when he met with the girl in 2014.

Van de Velde later received a four-year prison sentence in 2016 after confessing to three counts of rape.

Judge Francis Sheridan told him at the time: “Prior to coming to this country you were training as a potential Olympian.

“Your hopes of representing your country now lie as a shattered dream.”

Linda Strudwick, Van de Velde’s own defence lawyer, said of the verdict at Aylesbury Crown Court:  “The headlines say it all: ‘A sex monster.’

“It’s plainly a career end for him.”

Except the beach volleyball player is now set to return to prominence after clinching his spot at the Paris Games in July.

The now 29-year-old has qualified alongside his partner Matthew Immers, who are now the 11th-ranked team in the world, The Telegraph reports.

Van de Velde was released in 2017 after serving just 12 months at a Dutch prison and has since been allowed to resume his Olympic career.

Van de Velde travelled to the UK to meet up with his victim and have sex with her, Aylesbury Crown Court heard during his trial almost a decade ago.

Prosecutor Sandra Beck told the court at the time: “She describes that she had met Steven Van de Velde on Facebook, they spoke regularly through that and he made her ‘feel special’.

“She certainly made it clear she was seven years younger than him.

“This relationship over social media was taking place over a period of time.”

The girl had added the Dutch player as a friend on Facebook after he allegedly commented on one of her photos, the court heard.

The pair would then chat every day over Facebook, Snapchat and Skype before he visited her in Milton Keynes in 2014.

The girl told her family she was staying with a friend and snuck out to try to meet with the 19-year-old at a hotel.

When they couldn’t make a booking, they went to Furzton Lake in the town and drank Baileys and she performed a sex act on him.

The pair slept in cardboard boxes under a stairwell at Premier Inn because after they couldn’t get a room.

The following morning, she allegedly led him to her empty house, where they had sex.

Prior to his return to the Netherlands, Van de Velde told the girl to get the morning after pill as they had not used contraception.

The girl’s visit to a family planning clinic alerted authorities, who stepped in because of her young age.

Van de Velde, from Voorburg, was then extradited to the UK in January 2014 and arrested on suspicion of the sex acts.

Upon his release in 2017, the sick sportsman tried to defend himself and moaned people weren’t hearing “his side of the story”.

His comments were slammed by the National Society for Protection of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

A spokesman said: “Van de Velde’s lack of remorse and self-pity is breathtaking, and we can only begin to imagine how distressed his victim must feel if she sees his comments.

“Grooming can leave a child feeling ashamed or even guilty, because they believe they have somehow willingly participated when, in fact, an adult has preyed upon them in order to sexually exploit them.”

The Dutch Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee have not commented on the decision.