Police officer grabbed his girlfriend “by the throat” twice in a “vile” rage
A police officer grabbed his girlfriend “by the throat” twice in a “vile” rage at a hotel after a day out with his family, a court heard.
Lewis Rollins, 28, from Fareham is accused of abusing his girlfriend and lying to a string of women while taking their money to feed his gambling addiction.
Dr Georgia Miller met Rollins, a Metropolitan police officer, in April 2022 on dating app Bumble and said she felt “trapped” in the relationship as she tried to help him with his debts.
On Tuesday (March 17) , jurors at Southwark Crown Court heard Dr Miller describe his “bursts of anger”, name calling, acts of violence and controlling jealousy including monitoring her phone.
She accuses Rollins of “losing it” and attacking her in a Birmingham hotel room in July 2022, when he thought she had been texting an ex-boyfriend.
Dr Miller described being thrown out of bed by Mr Rollins and then “slammed” against a wall.
“He pushed me against the wall… he had me by the throat, but like with one hand so I could still breathe. I don’t think he was trying to kill me, he was just trying to scare me,” Dr Miller said.
She ran away from him, trapped herself in the bathroom, but when she emerged he attacked her again, the court heard.
“It was awful, I was crying, then eventually he started crying and backed away,” Dr Miller said.
They were at the Birmingham hotel with Rollins’s family, for his sister’s dance performance.
The next morning, Dr Miller said she told his parents what had happened, and his mother who was “very team Lewis” asked her not to report the attack.
Dr Miller recalled his mother saying: “Just remember what this could do to his career. You’ll get over this, you’ll be fine.”
She agreed not to report Rollins to the police and he later texted her to say: “How do we move past what I said? How do we move past you looked me in the eye and lied to me? How do we move past I beat you up?”
Rollins, who was a Pc in the Met’s central west command unit, is on trial accused of coercive or controlling behaviour, fraud and damaging property. The officer convinced Dr Miller to help him with an application to get a loan from the Met Police, and deal with his debts, the court heard.
“He was quite a big burden on my life at this point, I felt really trapped and I didn’t know how to get out of it and he used that against me, it felt horrible,” she said.
Jurors heard that Rollins used to call her obscenities during his “vile mood swings” and made her feel guilty.
“When it was good it was great, and when it was bad it was the worst thing ever,” Dr Miller said.
She said that she lent Rollins “so much money” that she was struggling to make ends meet just as she was graduating and starting work as a doctor.
Unknown to her, while she helped him with his gambling debts he was also “arranging to sleep with another woman” named as “Hannah”.
Before meeting Dr Miller, Rollins had already tried to convince another woman he met in February 2022 to take out a loan of £4,000 on his behalf which she had refused, but she had given him £1,500 in May 2022 to cover his rent.
Throughout his relationship with Dr Miller, she was trying to help him pay back Ms Steeds, along with his parents who were in “incredible” debt because of his gambling, the court heard.
In April 2023, Rollins met trainee solicitor Emily Busby on a dating app and she agreed to help him as he set up a football team to raise awareness of gambling problems.
“He called it a gambling addiction, the prosecution says it’s a habit,” Rekha Kodikara, prosecuting, said.
Jurors heard Ms Busby gave Rollins £800 to pay the deposit on his accommodation after he “gambled away” money he had been given by his parents, and she also let him use her car, allegedly landing her with a series of parking fines and speeding tickets.
In December 2023, she took out a £4,000 loan for Rollins, giving £2,500 of the money to the Pc while using the rest to pay off her own debts.
“(He) thought he was entitled to the loan she took out – he saw it as his money,” Ms Kodikara said.
Dr Miller also told the court about her frustration with the lack of NHS specialised support for gambling addictions.
“They’ve got everything under the sun except for gambling… it was ruining his life and the life of everyone around him,” she said.
Rollins denies two charges of controlling or coercive behaviour, damaging property and three counts of fraud.
Dr Miller will continue to give evidence this afternoon.