Police constable from Waterlooville accused of raping woman he met on dating app Bumble tells court she did not say 'no' to sex when they were in bed

PC David Longden-Thurgood, of Waterlooville, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the rape of the woman, a mother aged in her 30s, in October 2020.

The trial heard that the complainant invited the 48-year-old to her house after the pair had exchanged a series of sexualised messages.

The complainant has told the court that she had been happy to ‘spoon’ with the defendant but had told him she did not want any ‘funny business’ and they were not having sex that night.

Longden-Thurgood told the court that although she had said this earlier in the evening, when they were in the bedroom together he believed she had changed her mind about sex.

The court heard that after he had left, she had sent him a message saying: ‘I just kept saying "no we are not having sex”.

‘I didn’t mind a spoon and a bit of play but I think you intended on coming here and having sex, it got to the point where I may as well stop saying no.’

The defendant replied: ‘Sorry babe, I thought with all the sex talk that was both what we wanted. It’s very difficult to accept the invite into your house to spoon after all that talk and not have sex.’

He told the court that he believed that when they got undressed in bed she wanted to have sex as much as he did.

He added that she had not repeated that she did not want sex.

The court heard the complainant went on to send him messages accusing him of ‘using her for sex without full consent’.

The defendant said that the complainant’s accusation that he had said to her ‘I can’t stop, it feels so good’ was a ‘blatant lie’.

He said that he apologised to her for ‘misreading the situation’ but added that he felt that he was being ‘stitched up’ by the complainant.

Longden-Thurgood said that during the evening, the complainant had twice said to him ‘we are not going to have sex’ before saying ‘no funny business’ as they went upstairs.

He said that he understood at this point she was not consenting to sex, but added that her invite to ‘spoon’ with her upstairs meant that he ‘felt she was drifting towards to doing something with me’.

He added that when they began doing sexual acts in bed that ‘it was quite passionate and I stopped thinking about what she said earlier. It was my belief she did want to’.

Wiping away tears, he added: ‘I believed she had changed her mind.’

He added that he had not thought to ask her if she now consented to sex, and added: ‘In hindsight I probably should have got her to sign something, that is what I would do in the future.’

He said: ‘When I’m being passionate with someone, I do not normally stop and talk about consent or protection or STIs, it’s a bit of a passion killer.’

Longden-Thurgood, who serves with Hampshire Constabulary, denies rape and the trial continues.