A married police officer embarked on an affair with a teenage escort that culminated in repeated rape, a court has heard.
Sgt Peter Lower, 52, is alleged to have punched and kicked the victim before sexually assaulting and raping her.
In one alleged incident in a hotel room Lower is said to have put a pillow case over her head, tied a dressing gown cord around her hands and led her to the shower where he drenched her in water. On another occasion he is accused of throttling the woman until she passed out.
Lower, of Banwell, north Somerset, denies three charges of rape, three charges of assault by penetration, one charge of sexual assault, four charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a single charge of false imprisonment.
Bristol crown court heard that the alleged victim had wanted to join the police and that Lower had first contacted her by email.
He told her he could not afford to pay her, but would instead help her complete her application forms to join the force.
Peter Coombe, prosecuting, told the jury that the woman complained to the police in 2014 and made allegations about events in 2009. He said: “When she was 19 she was an escort girl and the defendant contacted her by email. He said he could not afford to pay her.
“She had wanted to join the police service and in return for her services he would help her with her application form. Unfortunately she did not get through, but she was utterly besotted with the defendant and after she was turned down by the regular police she became a special constable for a short time.”
Coombe said the woman would describe a “quite turbulent relationship”. “She was jealous because the defendant was married and had children,” he said. “She would tell him about other men she was seeing and that would anger him. She would say: ‘If you’re seeing your wife why can’t I see other men?”’
Coombe described an alleged incident in a Bristol hotel room during which they argued and Lower threatened to throw an expensive pair of her shoes out of the window. The defendant is alleged to have pushed her on to the bed, told her she was a bitch and then raped her.
Describing the incident with the shower, Coombe said: “The defendant … was worried she wouldn’t be able to breathe with the wet pillow case over her head.” Lower then took her back to the bedroom and untied her, telling her he was sorry and crying, he said.
Lower’s wife found out and contact with the alleged victim became less frequent, but they continued to have contact over the years that followed, the jury heard.
The alleged victim told police she had made up stories about two men, called Greg and Tom, in an effort to make Lower jealous. “She admitted she wanted him to leave his wife and she wanted him to be rough during sex,” Coombe said.
“She remarked that the defendant had remarked to her that it’s not the first time he had raped someone, and for a while he pretended to her that he had raped his wife, but he later admitted he had made that up.”
The trial continues.
