A beach volleyball player who was jailed for raping a 12-year-old British girl is set to represent the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics.

Steven van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after admitting three counts of rape against a child, which took place in August 2014.

Van de Velde, who met his victim on Facebook, travelled from Amsterdam to the UK and raped the girl at an address in Milton Keynes.

He was allowed to serve his sentence in the Netherlands but was released after just 12 months.

Van de Velde subsequently resumed his volleyball career and has competed in international tournaments since 2018 “following an intensive, professionally supervised trajectory” the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC) said.

He has qualified for the Olympics in his national pair with partner Matthew Immers.