Police officer Sgt Lee Cocking 'forced' into car sex while on duty

The jury has examined the silver Vauxhall Astra as evidence in the case

A police officer accused of having sex with a woman in his car while on duty claims she forced him into it.

Avon and Somerset police officer, Sgt Lee Cocking, offered the woman a lift home after she was asked to leave a nightclub due to drunken behaviour on Christmas Eve 2017.

Gloucester Crown Court heard the woman told Sgt Cocking, of Labourham Way, in Cheddar, to "man up" and have sex.

He denies a charge of misconduct in public office.

The woman, who was 30 at the time, had been on a night out when she was told to leave the Skinny Dippers club in Weston-super-Mare.

She was spoken to by a female police officer before Sgt Cocking - an acting inspector on the night - turned up at 03:10 GMT in his unmarked silver Vauxhall Astra police car.

'I believed him'

The court heard he offered to take her home because he feared she was vulnerable as she was so drunk.

Sgt Cocking claims that he did not willingly have sex with the woman and that it was her that unzipped his flies and "straddled" him.

The woman said: "I don't really recall a lot from that night. Yes I admit I had a drink and was very drunk.

"I don't recall getting into the police car, but I know that when Sgt Cocking offered to take me home, I believed him.

"I wouldn't have asked him for sex, he is a police officer."

Defending Sgt Cocking, Ray Tully QC, suggested to the woman that as they arrived at Knightstone Island in Weston it was her who asked for the vehicle to slow down and that she pulled her jeans and knickers down.

'Man up'

"You were manipulating him to your own end. You demanded to have sex with him as you already had your jeans down by your ankles?" Mr Tully said.

"You then wedged yourself between the steering wheel and Sgt Cocking with your leg beside the door.

"You straddled him and you told him to 'man up' and be a man."

The woman denied this and said she suffered from a friction burn while attempting to have sex in the car.

She added: "I am certain about what happened in the bits that I do remember.

"I do recall him telling me not to tell anybody as he would lose his job."

She said she delayed calling the police immediately as she was embarrassed because she had never been that drunk before and did not want her family to find out.

Mr Tully concluded that Sgt Cocking felt that he had been the victim of a sexual assault himself and not the other way around.

The trial continues.