A 51-year-old Dutchman is to appear in court in Germany charged with raping a 22-year-old Syrian refugee while director of a local refugee centre.

The man, named as Paul van M, has 20 previous convictions including several for sexual assault, the AD said on Thursday.

The man, who had a certificate of good behaviour from the German authorities, was suspended from his job in charge of the refugee centre in Finnetrop-Heggen in February. He has been charged with four accounts of raping the young woman at his home. He is also said to have made her pregnant.

According to local prosecutor Johannes Kamp, the man has 17 convictions in the Netherlands, two in Germany and one in Belgium.

Christian Democrat MP Madeleine Van Toorenburg says the case is alarming because it ‘shows that the system continues to fail’.

She has urged justice minister Ard van der Steur to take action to ‘make sure children and young women are better protected’.

Paul van M will appear in court on November 24.