Pc '˜assaulted girl in front of her parents' during house-to-house inquiries

David Martin, 67, now retired, is accused of repeatedly abusing one girl over a 15-year period.

He is also accused of allegedly groping another girl, now aged 36, after calling at her house while looking for a missing boy.

The court heard the 36-year-old woman first told police about the alleged attack after she made an allegation of domestic violence against a former partner.

Asked by officers why she had been reluctant to speak to them about the allegation of domestic abuse, she told them she had a bad experience with PC Martin when she was about 15, a court heard.

Martin is alleged to have hugged her tightly, rubbing her breasts in the process, while he spoke to her parents in the middle of carrying out his door-to-door inquiries.

The woman told police that after her father died the following year, Martin continued to show up at her home uninvited, and while she said he didn’t touch her again, he did make her feel uncomfortable, the court heard.

His other alleged victim, who Martin had known since she was around six-years-old, had allegedly been systematically abused by Martin on numerous occasions right up until her early 20s.

Richard Thyne, prosecuting, said: “[The woman] describes he used to cuddle her and touch her like other [men] wouldn’t.

“He would touch her breasts and her bottom. She it first happened at a New Year’s Eve party and then continued on a regular basis.

“She describes when she was around nine or ten, she was at the defendant’s house and he asked her to go through to the kitchen to help her with drinks.

“The defendant put his arm around her and started to kiss her on the cheek and then on the mouth. He tried to put his tongue down her throat.

“He put one hand down her trousers and into her knickers. He stopped when the kettle boiled and he carried on like nothing had happened.”

Mr Thyne told Sheffield Crown Court that Martin had taken the woman swimming when she was aged around 14, but would then allegedly sexually abuse her while they were in the water together.

Mr Thyne said: “Eventually she would make excuses not to go swimming, As she got older the abuse got worse.”

Mr Thyne said when the girl was aged around 14 she was in Martin’s house when he allegedly assaulted her again.

Mr Thyne said: “He pushed her against the cupboards and exposed her breasts and put his hands down her trousers.

“He told her not to tell anyone and gave her a packet of sweets. He asked her if she had a diary and she said no, and he said that was probably best.

“He said if she told anyone she would be taken into care.”

Mr Thyne told the court the abuse allegedly continued after the woman, who is now in her 30s, turned 16.

On another occasion she was allegedly pushed onto a settee and attacked by Martin.

Mr Thyne said: “He pulled her onto the settee and started kissing her neck and put his hand down her trousers.

“He said to her: ‘It’s all right, I’m not going to shag you, you need a boyfriend first’.”

Mr Thyne told the court the last time Martin allegedly assaulted the woman was when she was 23 and he had picked her up in his car.

Mr Thyne said: “He touched her leg, tried to kiss her and put his hand inside her top.

“He asked her if she was going to give him a kiss and she said no and got out of the car. After this incident she tried to avoid seeing him.”

Mr Thyne said the woman initially confided in a parish priest and then a boyfriend that she had been abused by Martin.

When he was interviewed by police, the former officer denied all the allegations made against him.

Mr Thyne said: “He said he was gobsmacked she had made the allegations against him.

“He said she was a bit Tomboyish and he said she wouldn’t turn him on if he was that way inclined.”

Dressed in a grey suit, blue shirt and purple tie, Martin denied 19 counts of indecent and sexual assault as they were put to him.

The trial continues.