Hampshire PC accused of raping woman he met on dating app

PC David Longden-Thurgood is on trial at Winchester Crown Court

Winchester Crown Court
Author: Ben Mitchell, PAPublished 9th Jan 2023

A Hampshire police officer raped a woman he met on an online dating site when he had sex with her despite her repeatedly telling him that she did not want to, a court has heard.

Police Constable David Longden-Thurgood, of Waterlooville, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the rape of the woman, a mother aged in her 30s, at her home in October 2020.

Rebecca Fairbairn, prosecuting, told the jury that the 48-year-old defendant "would not take no for an answer".

She described how the complainant invited the defendant to her house after they had met on the Bumble dating app and sent a series of sexualised messages to each other.

She said when they decided to go upstairs to continue watching the television on her bed, she told him: "No funny business."

The court was told the officer raped the woman despite being repeatedly told by the woman she did not want to have sex.

The prosecution said: "At that stage she thought 'What do I do? I have told him and he hasn't listened'.

"She didn't know how he would react, she felt she couldn't risk her children waking."

Ms Fairbairn added: "She said again 'I do not want sex".

The prosecutor said that after the defendant had left her house, the complainant sent him a message saying: "It's just I kept saying 'No, we are not having sex'."

Ms Fairbairn added: "The defendant didn't think that (the complainant) had a right to agree to some sexual activity and not everything."

The prosecutor said that the following day, the complainant told a friend that she had been with someone "who didn't take no for an answer".

Longden-Thurgood, who has been a police officer for 19 years, denies the charge and the trial continues.

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