Woman claims Met officer raped her in tearful police interview shown to jury
Rupert Edwards denies raping two women in 11 days after meeting them in bars while off duty, his trial has heard.
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A woman broke down in tears as she claimed a serving Metropolitan Police officer raped her, video evidence played in court has shown.
Suspended Pc Rupert Edwards, 30, is alleged to have raped one woman in Epsom, Surrey, on August 26 2022 and the other in Lambeth, south London, on September 5 2022.
Edwards, from Ashtead, Surrey, denies attacking the complainants, who are in their 20s and 30s, and is standing trial at Inner London Crown Court.
He met both women in bars on nights out, then went back to their homes where they initially engaged in consensual sexual activity, before he allegedly raped them, the court has heard.
Video of a police interview given by the first complainant in December 2022 was played to jurors on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The prosecution case is that she had consensual sex with Edwards at her flat before saying she was too tired to continue, when he then pulled her leg up and initiated further sexual intercourse.
In the footage played on Wednesday, she at points dabbed her eyes with a tissue and cried.
In his opening speech on Tuesday, prosecutor Robert Brown said she had consensual sex with Edwards “at least once, possibly twice” but in the police interview she suggested it was “two or three” times.
She said she could not remember details of the third possible time, saying: “It’s stuff you don’t think you are going to need to remember.”
She added: “The thing that’s upsetting me is what was going through my head at the time when I was just saying to myself, I’m being raped, why aren’t I doing anything about it?”
All I know is that there was one occasion where I did not consent and I said those words
She said she does not know how long the non-consensual sex went on for or how it finished, adding: “I just laid there and waited for it to end.”
She said she had drunk six or seven cocktails earlier in the night which made her feel drunk, then switched to drinking water by end of the night before taking a cab home with Edwards, the court heard.
During cross examination, she said Edwards was also “drunk” on the night but “wasn’t unstable on his feet, he could hold a conversation”.
In the police interview, she said: “I still would have been drunk but also quite tired and sleep deprived which has obviously had a negative effect on what I can remember of it.”
Describing the rape, she said: “It wasn’t violent or savage, it was just the case of I said I don’t want to any more, he didn’t listen.”
She said she initially tried to “forget about it” but later confided in a friend who reported it to the police.
Asked how Edwards reacted when she withdrew consent, she said: “He didn’t say anything but, realistically, there is no way he couldn’t have heard me because I said it clearly, I didn’t whisper it, and he was right next to me.”
On how she felt the first time they had consensual sex, she said: “I mean, I enjoyed it. At that point he didn’t do anything that I wasn’t comfortable with.”
A video of the woman being cross-examined in the same court on July 14 was played to the jury.
Ailsa Williamson, defending, asked if there were “three occasions where you had consensual intercourse and then a fourth occasion that you say was not consensual? Or are you not clear on how many occasions there were?”
The woman said: “All I know is that there was one occasion where I did not consent and I said those words.”
Ms Williamson later added: “These events that you’re describing (the alleged rape), in your mind is this the fourth occasion that there was sexual intercourse or the third?”
The woman said: “I just don’t remember.”
So you are saying he had just forced you to have sex when you didn't want to, you said nothing to him about that and just went to sleep in the same bed (afterwards)?
Ms Williamson said: “Do you agree that you did not do or say anything to him to indicate that you were not consenting to having intercourse for a third time?”
The woman claimed she told Edwards “I can’t go again” before he proceeded to have intercourse with her anyway but said she then “froze” and did nothing further to stop him.
Ms Williamson added: “So you are saying he had just forced you to have sex when you didn’t want to, you said nothing to him about that and just went to sleep in the same bed (afterwards)?
“That’s just not right, is it? You had consensual sex for a third time and then both drifted off asleep until about midday, isn’t it?”
Ms Williamson said that when Edwards left the woman’s home at noon the next day “it was a perfectly amicable parting”, and the woman agreed.
Ms Williamson added: “Isn’t that because you had both agreed to everything that had taken place between you, do you agree or not?”
The woman said: “I don’t agree, no.”
The trial continues.