A MALE cop caged for child sex offences has been freed — as a woman.

Stacey Pool, 30, was PC Nick Pool when she was collared in an undercover police sting.

She was jailed for 3½ years last year but has been released after serving half her sentence.

She appeared in court for an application to alter her licence conditions, wearing a red wig, black leggings and grey boots.

The application, part of a sexual harm prevention order, now requires Pool to inform cops within three days of getting any device which can access the internet.

The clerk at Carlisle crown court asked: “Are you Nicholas Pool, now known as Stacey Pool?”

Pool, of Middlesbrough, answered: “That’s correct.” She was nabbed after chatting online with someone she thought was a 12-year-old girl then trying to arrange to meet her.

Police later found child abuse images on Pool’s computer.

She admitted grooming and possessing child sex pictures and was jailed last May.