Court hears ‘devious’ ex-policeman was determined to sexually abuse young girls
A “devious and manipulative” former police officer who was determined to “engage in sexualised behaviour with young girls” repeatedly raped one victim after plying her with alcohol, a court heard.
Teesside Crown Court (pictured) was told on Wednesday how David Waller groomed underage victims, bragging to one about his job with the police and owning a BMW in order to get her into his bedroom, where they allegedly had sex.
A jury heard the 33-year-old, who served with Cleveland Police between 2006 and 2010, acted in “abuse of his position as a police constable” by having a sexual relationship with a complainant who had reported being threatened by her ex-partner’s mother.
Prosecutors explained how Waller met his alleged victims through his role with the force, his capacity as a flying instructor and through various theatre groups.
The charges against him date from December 2004 to April 2016 and involve a total of eight complainants, jurors have been told.
The court was told one 16-year-old began having a relationship with the then police officer after he flirted with her on Facebook, saying she “enjoyed the attention”.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Matthew Bean said that following a party, he invited the teenager and her friends to his house to drink alcohol, before having sex with her.
Jurors were told they had sex on six or seven occasions, but the alleged victim did not want to have intercourse and was drunk every time they did.
Mr Bean said: “On each occasion she was drunk as a result of drink he had bought her, and on each occasion he was sober and aware of what had happened.
“The prosecution say that the defendant had targeted a young girl and plied her with alcohol in order to have sex with her.”
The court heard the relationship prompted the teenager to have a “16-year-old midlife crisis”, as well as how she felt “unable to tell him ‘No'” and was asked to “trust” him when he did not wear a condom.
Prosecutors say that although she never told the defendant she did not want to have sex, she was not in a position to consent due to her drunken state each time they did.
The court heard another 16-year-old girl was subject to flirting by Waller, who started to “treat her as a girlfriend” and talk to her inappropriately.
Jurors were told she thought the pair were in a “mature romance”, but she was asked by the defendant to lie to her parents about having a sleepover at her friend’s house when he invited her out.
They then proceeded to his house, Mr Bean said, where he started kissing her and touching her private parts, despite her telling him to stop.
The prosecutor said he then began having sex with her, adding: “She will tell you she did not want to have sex. The defendant, to use her words, ‘just did it’.”
The teenager eventually told her parents about the experience, before going with them to take a morning-after contraceptive pill because he had not worn protection, the court was told.
Among the allegations against Waller is a claim that he touched an underage girl’s breast, that he groomed a girl via MSN before taking her virginity, and that he sent sexual messages to another.
Mr Bean said one of the alleged victims, another underage girl, was regularly contacted over Facebook Messenger by the defendant, where they are said to have exchanged sexual messages.
The prosecutor said the girl’s mother found the messages on her account and warned Waller that her daughter was underage.
But less than a fortnight later, he resumed messaging the girl and coerced her into sending sexual pictures, the court heard.
“It shows how determined he is to engage in sexualised behaviour with young girls,” Mr Bean said, adding: “These messages also show him to be both devious and manipulative.”
Waller, of Autumn Grove, Stockton, denies three counts of causing or inciting underage girls to engage in sexual activity, and three of meeting or attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
He has also pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, and one of sexual assault, as well as a charge of misconduct in a public office.
His trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues on Thursday.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2019, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Owen Humphries / PA Wire.
