Court hears of woman's torment over rape claim

A FORMER heroin addict was still so terrified of a police officer six years after she claimed he raped her that she refused to believe detectives investigating the officer were not secretly working for him, a court heard yesterday.

PC Stephen Mitchell, a 42-year-old Northumbria Police officer from Glasgow, denies five counts of rape, six indecent assaults and 15 counts of misconduct in a public office.

One of the 16 female complainants has told Newcastle Crown Court Mitchell cuffed her hands behind her back, then raped her in her home while he was still in his uniform. He had kept her under his control for years, she said, blackmailing her to perform sex acts.

DC Cath Easton, working for the force's Professional Standards Unit, said she visited the woman in June last year, asking if the reformed drug user had any concerns about how she had been treated by a police officer, and the witness told her she did not. The detective said: "I left her with my business card; she was flustered and upset." But the next day the woman called the detective. DC Eastman told the court: "She was hysterical. It took her a while to get her words out, but she was saying, 'How do I know I can trust you? How do I know he has not sent you to test us?'"

The trial continues.