Female PC told woman ‘I know the law’ before sexually assaulting her, court heard

A female police officer told another woman ‘I know the law’ before sexually assaulting her, a court has heard.

Fiona Anderson, a police constable with Devon and Cornwall Police, is on trial accused of two counts of sexual assault in 2018 while she was visiting Cardiff.

Anderson, 33, is alleged to have performed oral sex on the other woman without consent. She denies the charges. 

The alleged victim told her, ‘I don’t want to have sex with you’, while Anderson kept persisting, a jury at Bristol Crown Court heard.

Opening the trial today, prosecutor Emma Martin said Anderson, from Exeter, was described as ‘disgustingly drunk’ on the night of the alleged offence. 

Despite it being clear that the victim did not want to have sex, Anderson ‘was not taking no for an answer’ and started to kiss and bite her, the jury heard.

Ms Martin said Anderson was becoming ‘rougher’ with the alleged victim and took off her underwear.

The prosecutor told the court: ‘Fiona said these words to her, “I know the law, I need you to say yes.”‘ 

Fiona Anderson, a police constable with Devon and Cornwall Police, is on trial accused of two counts of sexual assault in 2018 while she was visiting Cardiff

Anderson, 33, is alleged to have performed oral sex on the other woman without consent

She added: ‘(The complainant) was physically not reciprocating at all.’

Ms Martin said the complainant had felt like ‘she could not turn to anyone’ because Anderson was a police officer.

She added: ‘(The complainant) said no and Fiona just carried on anyway.’

Prosecutors said that it was clear that night that the woman ‘did not want any sexual contact with her’.

The complainant told police in a video interview that she ‘struggled to understand’ and ‘get past’ what happened to her.

Ms Martin said: ‘It’s crossed the line from one-sided sexual advance to sexual offending.’

The court heard that the complainant finally informed police about the alleged sexual assault in March 2023, when she spoke to an officer about a ‘completely unrelated’ incident in a pub. 

The trial, listed for four days, continues.