Rape-accused Hampshire PC 'would not take no for an answer'

The businesswoman and police officer met on the Bumble dating app

A woman who said she was raped by a police officer after they met on a dating app has told a court "he would not take no for an answer".

Serving Hampshire Constabulary officer PC David Longden-Thurgood denies raping the woman at her home in Hampshire.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court heard they arranged to meet after exchanging sexualised Whatsapp messages.

The court was told the pair had initially met on the Bumble app.

Jurors heard they went on to discuss their sexual preferences in messages and sent photos to each other partially naked.

The complainant, a mother aged in her 30s, added in a message "I wouldn't want any funny business though".

Giving evidence in court, she said: "We had a good conversation and I liked the tone of the conversation so I saw some potential."

"I went on to Bumble to look for a relationship, not just someone to have sex with," she added.

The court heard that Mr Longden-Thurgood visited the complainant at her home in October 2020, and that they chatted and started kissing before watching a Netflix TV series called Outcry.

She told jurors she had said to him: "I am not having sex with you tonight."

The complainant said she then suggested they go upstairs to her bedroom but she told him "no funny business" to which she said he laughed and said "OK".

She said that they cuddled in bed and the kissing became "passionate".

She told the court he then raped her, and added: "I had already told him before we were not having sex, I definitely said it in the bedroom.

"He didn't take no for an answer and at this point I was concerned about my children.

"Not harm to my children but it could be what they would be subjected to witness as I didn't know what he would have done if I had forced him to get off me," she told the jury.

The trial continues.