text: Edwin 'Jock' Mee, (pictured outside court at an earlier hearing) allegedly targeted 11 cadets as young as 15, during the army interview process . An army recruitment sergeant got a teenage cadet pregnant after raping her during a campaign of abuse against female recruits, a court heard today. Edwin 'Jock' Mee, 45, allegedly targeted 11 cadets, aged between 15 and 25, on a military base in Croydon, south London, during the army interview and screening process. Southwark Crown Court heard he had a preference for vulnerable black women born overseas, who he isolated and 'kept' to himself so he could sexually abuse them. Many of his vulnerable victims were threatened with deportation if they did not submit to his sexual demands. One of the women, a virgin in her early 20s, fell pregnant when Mee raped her in a locked waiting room, jurors were told. She was in the UK on a student visa and Mee told her she needed to renew her passport and asked if she worked as a prostitute in the UK, jurors heard. He became 'aggressive' and looked down her top and rubbed her thigh while she was taking a test, it was claimed. After raping her, Mee told her she was a 'sweet child', jurors heard. Doctors found that she had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy for which she was operated on after collapsing in hospital. When she called Mee to explain what had happened, he allegedly replied 'I thought you were safe' and never spoke to her again. On another occasion he raped a 19-year-old from Sierra Leone after asking her for sex on the basis that he would get her a passport in return. 'He pressurised her to the extent that she felt she would be compelled to submit to his demands,' Rosina Cottage QC said in opening the case to the jury. 'He told her that she had control over her status in the country.' Mee raped her, before forcing her to perform a sex act on him, it was said. 'He told her that if she said anything, no one would listen to her, she would not have a job, she would have nothing,' Miss Cottage said. The divorced father-of-five denies 17 counts of sexual assault, three counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration, which are said to have happened between October 2010 and September 2011. Mee, formerly of Croydon but who now lives in Glasgow, wore his grey hair in a pony tail and dressed in a smart suit and tie as he listened intently while Miss Cottage opened the case. She said the attacks had been an 'abuse of trust and power by this defendant in order to bully and groom young women'. He would 'gauge their vulnerability' and speak to the women about sex, touch them and in the most serious instances rape those over whom he had established control, Miss Cottage said. She added: 'A number of the complainants in this case were young black women, born outside the United Kingdom. 'Whether the defendant believed that this gave them a vulnerability in relation to their immigration status, or gave him an excuse to pretend that he had some power over them, the inference that the prosecution say can be drawn is that he deliberately targeted these young women.' She told the court Mee, known to many as 'Jock', was employed as a recruiting Sergeant with the British Army at the Mitcham Barracks Army Careers and Information Office (ACIO) in Croydon. 'His job was to screen cadet applications, interview those applicants and support their application through the process of attaining certain fitness levels and tests,' she said. 'Each of the complainants in this case was a cadet whose application was in the charge of this defendant.' She explained that the interview involves a three-part process, starting with a meet and greet, then a more personal interview with questions about family circumstances, motivation and commitment. The third interview, known as a confirmation interview, should be conducted by a different person from the first two, but the Scottish officer ignored the system, jurors heard. 'Each of the complainants seems to have been kept by him, to himself. Every interview, every appointment,' said Ms Cottage. One girl was just 16 when Mee allegedly slapped her bottom and when she said she didn't like it he told her: 'It's you who needs the army'. Ms Cottage said: 'Initially he appeared professional, but then started to talk about his wife and telling her about personal matters. The divorced father-of-five (pictured leaving court yesterday) denies 17 counts of sexual assault, three counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration, which are said to have happened between  2010 and 2011 . 'He then wanted to ask her about her private life and whether she had a boyfriend. He asked her if she had body piercings and asked to see the piercing in her stomach area. 'She told him she was uncomfortable with this line of conversation and then he asked her if she would go and have a coffee with him. 'After she left she had a call from the defendant on a mobile phone asking her whether she had thought about his offer of coffee.' A week later the girl returned to the office to book the British Army Recruitment Battery - a computer based test and it was then that he allegedly slapped her bottom. The woman decided not to pursue a career in the Army 'because of the defendant's behaviour'. Giving evidence behind a curtain, she told the court that Mee explained during their first meeting that his wife had cheated on him. Another of the complainants broke down in tears as she gave evidence where she claimed that Mee 'made a joke' about her quiff hairstyle during a visit  to the recruitment centre with her mother. Jurors were told Mee had a preference for vulnerable black women born overseas, who he  'kept' to himself so he could sexually abuse them . She explained to the court from behind a screen that during her first meeting with the sergeant, when she was around 19, after she applied to join the army online and was invited for an interview with Mee in 2011. He allegedly asked if she would date people of other races because the Army 'doesn't stand for racism'. On another visit, her mother told the recruitment officer that she was 'worried' about her daughter joining the Armed Forces. Sobbing, the witness, who is now 23, told the court that Mee had replied jokingly, and added: 'He said that I would attract the Taliban with my hair.' Under cross-examination by Lisa Wilding QC, for the defence, she later admitted that the sergeant had joked instead that she would 'scare the Taliban off' with her hair. On a separate occasion, the complainant went to the centre to carry out some physical training, which she admitted struggling with, and Mee asked her into his office. He ordered her to do some sit ups while he held her ankles, it was said. 'I lay down, he held my ankles and I did some sit ups,' she said. 'I didn't want to do it and he was like, reassuring me because I had a skirt on.' She only managed 10 sit ups and Mee told her to attend a training session the following Thursday. The witness, who said she was the only woman, added: 'After the session finished we went back to his office, he said I needed to practice more and improve my fitness. 'When I was leaving he hit my bum when I was walking out the door. I was quite shocked, I didn't know what was going on. I just wanted to go and I did.' Later she claimed to have contacted Mee to say that she had decided not to join the Army because of the 'physical aspect of it'. She said she did not tell anyone about the smack on the bottom until police sent a letter to her house. Asked why she had not spoken about the incident with her mother, she said she was 'kind of embarrassed'. The Scotsman listened to the evidence of his alleged victims with the aid of a hearing loop. Ms Cottage said: 'This is a pattern of sexual, bullying behaviour that was repeated again and again to the female cadets to make them feel that he had power over them and control over their future.' He was British Army recruiting sergeant at Mitcham Barracks in Croydon (pictured) in the Careers and Information Office . The youngest alleged victim was just 15 when she went several times to the recruitment office. He asked her for a date and tried to kiss her on the lips in a corridor, but she turned away and he 'got her on the cheek', the court heard. On Thursday afternoons there were fitness assessments at Croydon Athletics Arena for up to 30 cadets supervised by two staff members, it was said. A number of Mee's alleged victims attended the regular Thursday training sessions, the court heard. Ms Cottage said: 'Sergeant Mee regularly stayed the latest of all the officers. The ACIO is closed to members of the public at the weekends, but occasionally the defendant was seen on the premises at weekends. 'A fellow officer, Stuart Conroy noticed he would conduct interviews with applicants out of hours and particularly remembers the defendant interviewing a young woman who Sergeant Conroy had interviewed earlier in the day,' she said. The alleged offences were initially investigated by the Royal Military Police, before the case was then handed to the Metropolitan Police. The trial, which is expected to run for six to eight weeks, continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
target: Edwin 'Jock' Mee, 45, allegedly targeted 11 cadets aged between 15 and 25 .
  He was British Army recruiting sergeant at Mitcham Barracks in Croydon .
  Court heard he isolated alleged victims from overseas and abused them .
  Were allegedly threatened with deportation if they did not submit to him .
  One woman, a virgin in her 20s, fell pregnant after rape in waiting room .
  Divorcee Mee denies 17 counts of sexual assault and three counts of rape .