Officer asked witness about sex drive, court hears

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury, has pleaded not guilty

A serving Kent police officer sent flirtatious messages to a witness during a burglary investigation and asked if she had a “high sex drive”, a court has heard.

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

Between October and December 2019, Mr Peall allegedly shared flirtatious text messages, emails, and phone calls with the woman.

He has pleaded not guilty to the offence and the trial continues

'Persistent'

Prosecutor Zarah Dickinson told the jury that Mr Peall and the complainant initially exchanged text messages and emails in relation to the burglary before he attended the witness’s home address to take a statement.

He allegedly called her after receiving a third statement and made flirtatious comments over the phone, the court heard.

Ms Dickinson said: “To distract him she pointed out he had a wife and children. He told her, ‘well it would just be for sex’ and this made her uncomfortable.”

Ms Dickinson described the defendant’s flirtatious messages as “persistent”.

The defendant was interviewed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct in August 2020.

In his prepared statement, Mr Peall accepted there had been inappropriate flirtation on text messages and that he should have reported it, but did not accept he was misconducting himself in a public office.

The court heard Mr Peall claimed there was no flirtatious chat when they were face-to-face and felt he had a lot to deal with at work and at home during this time.

'Unwanted advances'

Ms Dickinson concluded: “[The complainant] felt unable to tell [Mr] Peall to stop because of her own past relationships."

She added: "She was also conscious that she did not want to upset him, particularly as she had no idea what type of person he was.

“The bottom line was that [she] did not want to be pursued by [Mr] Peall, and as a witness who tried to assist a police investigation, she additionally had to deal with unwanted advances from him.”

The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court at 10:30 BST on Tuesday.