A Slovakian paedophile who kidnapped and repeatedly raped a 12-year-old schoolgirl previously appeared in a British taxpayer-funded rap video, MailOnline can reveal.
Ernest Gunar Jr, 27, lured his victim into a car with the promise of a cigarette at an Asda car park in Dover last August, alongside fellow Slovakians Kevin Horvath, 26, and 38-year-old Ivan Turtak.
The girl was raped in Horvath’s car, before being taken to Gunar’s squalid caravan on Arthur Street in Folkestone, Kent, where she was plied with illicit substances, subjected to further rapes and other degrading sexual acts.
The trio were last week convicted of all charges against them.
MailOnline can now reveal that, as a teenager, Gunar rapped about how a lack of ‘respect’ for different communities would result in ‘racism and crime‘ for a local project financed by the UK Government.
Showcased by ITV project Fixers, Gunar – who was 16 at the time – was funded by the Cabinet Office’s Youth Social Action Fund under then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
ITV’s Fixers worked with Gunar as part of the Cabinet Office’s ‘Step Up To Serve’ campaign – which was spearheaded by the then-Prince of Wales, King Charles III.
The sex offender said at the time: ‘It’s my view that young people can be quick to judge each other and don’t always show one another respect.
‘The result of this can be racism and crime and I believe that the barriers between different groups of young people need to be broken down.’
He created a rap song and video, accompanied by friends, many of whom also originally came from Eastern Europe, and said: ‘Some people will perhaps think they know one Slovak who is bad, so they consider us all to be the same.
‘But, we’re all humans and we shouldn’t judge others. We should respect them.’
The lyrics of the video focused on community and unity, with one line stating: ‘Magnify the world, different countries and religions. What we know and what we don’t, let’s mix-match our opinions’.
The music video showed Gunar and several other teenagers singing and rapping while having a barbeque.
King Charles was the royal patron of Step Up To Serve, an initiative which called on adults across the UK to volunteer to help double the level of participation of young people in helping others.
It was supported by the Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband.
Gunar was born in Košice, the second biggest city in Slovakia, but came to the UK with his parents when he was aged three or four.
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