Lincoln: Off-duty trainee PC raped 'intoxicated' woman, court told

Frazer MacDowall is on trial for rape at Nottingham Crown Court

A trainee Lincolnshire Police officer raped a woman who was too drunk to remember how she got home, a jury has been told.

PC Frazer McDowall, 24, of Ryland Road, Welton, is alleged to have attacked the 20-year-old while off-duty on 16 October last year.

His accuser met Mr McDowall on a night out with friends in Lincoln, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Mr McDowall denied one count of rape and said the woman consented to sex.

Opening Mr McDowall's trial on Monday, prosecutor Samuel Skinner KC told a jury the alleged victim had met the officer at Home nightclub, where both were out drinking with friends.

When their friends left, the pair decided to stay out and, at Mr McDowall's suggestion, they went on to the Cloud 9 strip club, the court heard.

'Don't remember anything'

The woman had two more drinks at the club and woke up the next morning in her bed with her memory of the rest of the night "completely blank", the jury was told.

In a police interview played to the court, she said: "After my second drink, I don't remember anything. I don't remember leaving, don't remember coming home."

The woman's top was on inside out and her underwear was missing when she woke up, the court heard.

She said she felt as though she had had sex and reported it to the police.

Mr McDowall, a probationary officer, was identified from CCTV footage as being with the alleged victim the previous night, the jury was told.

But Mr Skinner said she was "so intoxicated she cannot even remember how she got home" and could not have consented.

In February, Lincolnshire Police said Mr McDowall had been suspended from the force while an investigation was ongoing.

The trial continues.