Pc ‘raped woman’ day after meeting online

A POLICE officer raped a businesswoman the day after meeting her through Bumble, a court heard.

David Longden-thurgood, 48, told the woman, “I’ll protect you” after they made contact via the dating app and he sent her naked selfies and sexual messages.

The victim repeatedly said she did not want to have sex with him but Pc Longdenthur good allegedly “would not take no for an answer”, Winchester Crown Court was told.

The court heard Pc Longden-thurgood met the woman, a mother in her 30s, on the female-friendly dating app and she felt a “degree of trust because he was a police officer”.

In messages, the 48-yearold bragged about being 6ft and 17st with a “high sex drive”, and told her: “I’ll protect you for life, you will be my baby girl, I’ll look after you.”

Rebecca Fairbairn, prosecuting, told the court that after a day of the pair exchanging sexualised messages and sending naked selfies, the woman invited him to her home.

Ms Fairbairn said the woman wanted to chat to get to know him and consented to kissing and some sexual activity, but did not consent to intercourse and repeatedly told him: “I don’t want sex.”

Ms Fairbairn said Pc Longden-thurgood, a divorced father of three, matched with the woman on Bumble in October 2020 and they met at her Hampshire home the following evening.

The woman told detectives she “trusted” him.

In her police interview, played to the court yesterday, she said: “I felt like I could trust him a little bit more because of the level of messages. I felt quite close to him.

“Because he said he was a police officer that almost gave me a sense of trust, I felt quite protected by him.”

Pc Longden-thurgood denies rape. The trial continues next week.