Met Police officer from Hertfordshire, charged with sexual offences, described as 'intimidating'

25-year-old Jake Cummings is on trial charged with rape, voyeurism, stalking and controlling and coercive behaviour

St Albans Crown Court
Author: Zoe Head-ThomasPublished 9th Sep 2024
Last updated 9th Sep 2024

A serving Metropolitan Police officer, who is alleged to have pretended to be somebody else on social media to message and continue stalking a victim, was described as 'intimidating' by a witness.

Pc Jake Cummings, 25, is charged with two counts of rape, one count of stalking, three counts of controlling and coercive behaviour, and three counts of voyeurism.

On the first day of his trial last week, Monday September 2, he pleaded guilty to two additional counts of stalking.

The court heard today (Monday September 9) of an event in which he had 'flashed' his warrant card in front of a crowd, "waving it around" in what a witness described to be a way to "disclose his position of power".

The witness added he had made a comment that "if he wanted to, he could arrest anyone".

Jake Cummings, who appeared at the dock in a grey tracksuit, looked down during most of the evidence given by witnesses, and one of his victims, showing no apparent emotion.

The court was shown a video account of a range of events from his victim, who later appeared in front of the jury.

She described feeling 'sick' and "scared of what he could do", scared that he would hurt her.

She recalled an event in which Cummings drove to her property unannounced.

She spoke of being unaware of his movements, but an instinct led her to check a live location app through which she discovered him to be in close proximity to her.

The court heard last week that Cummings used the phone app, called Life 360, which he had made all three complainants download, to track them, which gave him what the prosecutor labelled a "pincer-type control and knowledge" over their movements.

The victim went on to describe the moment in which he parked up on her road, stating that he had insisted on her sitting in his vehicle to talk, then driving off for thirty to forty-five minutes, making the victim feel "endangered".

Witnesses are due to appear tomorrow (September 10) at St Albans Crown Court to continue giving evidence.

The trial is set to last three weeks.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.