A police officer who had sex with a woman after she made a 999 call claimed he had "no control over his actions", a court was told.
Jordan Masterson, 27, was on duty as a police constable with Cheshire Constabulary, based in Widnes, when he was called to the woman's home in the early hours of December 28 2021. A jury at Chester Crown Court heard that the woman, referred to in court as female G, had already been visited by police officers at 10pm the previous day after reporting a disturbance.
Opening the case yesterday, Tuesday, January 23, prosecutor Duncan Bould said the woman later called police again and Masterson, of Townsend Avenue, Clubmoor, attended her home at around 12.30am, where she was "under the influence of alcohol" and "clearly in an emotional state".
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Mr Bould told the court: "Within a short time of arriving at her home, the defendant turned off his body worn camera and engaged in consensual sexual intercourse with female G. Shortly after that he left her." The jury heard female G described Masterson’s hand touching hers after he turned off his body worn camera and said the "atmosphere then changed" and they ended up in the living room having sex on the couch.
The woman, whose children were asleep in the house at the time, later made more emergency calls and Masterson returned to her home around an hour later, again turning off his body worn camera, the court heard. Mr Bould said: "She said during the course of that second visit he told her not to tell anyone about what had happened earlier. He then left for a second time."
After he had left, the woman called the police again and described what had happened. Mr Bould said the woman used the word "rape" when talking to the police call handler, but later clarified that she had wanted to have sex.
The jury was told when Masterson was interviewed by police he gave no comment to questions but gave a prepared statement where he said the woman had "instigated" physical contact. He also said female G had "been in control and that he was powerless", the court heard.
Mr Bould said relatively large amounts of the woman's DNA were found inside boxer shorts recovered from the PC's home. The prosecutor said it was understood Masterson now accepted having sex with the woman, but suggested he had "no control over his actions".
Mr Bould said: "Effectively, it seems he will say female G forced those actions on him. He denies he told her not to speak to anybody about their sexual encounter during that second visit to her home."
The court heard when Masterson completed a vulnerable persons assessment form after visiting the woman, he wrote officers should "be wary of what this female may do in the future and I urge my colleagues to attend double-crewed".
Mr Bould told the jury: "It is the prosecution's case that he wilfully misconducted himself by having sex with her, that vulnerable member of the public, whilst on duty. We say this is not a case of him having no control over his actions, but that his actions were deliberate".
Masterson, who wiped his eyes with a tissue at times during the court hearing, denies misconduct in a public office. The trial is expected to last seven days.
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