Serving police officer asked witness if she had ‘high sex drive’, court hears

A serving Kent police officer sent flirtatious messages to a witness during a burglary investigation asking if she had a “high sex drive”, a court has heard.

Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

He has pleaded not guilty to the offence.

Between October and December 2019, Peall allegedly shared flirtatious text messages, emails and phone calls with a care home employee while investigating the burglary of an elderly client.

Prosecutor Zarah Dickinson told the jury that Peall and the complainant initially exchanged text messages and emails in relation to the burglary before he attended the witness’s home address in plain clothes to take a statement from her.

Ms Dickinson said: “During the taking of the statement (she) recalls they chatted generally about her family situation and working from home. She told him that her ex-partner had cheated.”

After a second meeting in which she provided another statement, he allegedly sent her a message along the lines of “I wasn’t sure if that was a wink goodbye” with an emoji before later calling her after receiving a third statement and making flirtatious comments over the phone.

Ms Dickinson said: “To distract him she pointed out he had a wife and children. He told her, ‘well it would just be for sex’ and this made her uncomfortable.”

He allegedly told her “it’s sex, nothing more, you know my situation” and mentioned protection because he didn’t want any more children “running around”.

Peall used his work phone to contact the complainant and also spoke about meeting up, the court heard. At one point, he asked her if he had overstepped the mark.

Ms Dickinson described the defendant’s flirtatious messages as “persistent”. She told the court: “On occasions when she did not respond, because her elderly client passed away for example, Peall attempts to re-engage her in flirtatious chat.

“(She) thought that if she did not respond to his messages then he would get the message. He sends these messages when he is both on duty and off duty.”

Some of the messages were described as being “of a sexual nature”, with some allegedly telling the complainant “we could be wicked together” and asking if she had a high “sex drive”.

Late one Friday evening, Peall asked her if she was free the following day to make a statement and asked if her daughter would be there, the court heard. When she told him she would be, he suggested making sure she was not.

Ms Dickinson said: “(The complainant) was in no doubt from the conversation and previous messages exchanged that he wanted to come over to have sex with her … Peall messaged (her), ‘you up for everything…?’ then clarifying, ‘How far you’re happy to go…’ and ‘I’m not coming over for tea am I…haha.

Other messages from Peall indicated that he had started to make his way to her house and he thought he had better confirm with her first.

The defendant was interviewed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct on August 26 2020. In his prepared statement, he accepted there had been inappropriate flirtation on text messages and that he should have reported it. But he did not accept he was misconducting himself in a public office.

The court heard that Peall claimed there was no flirtatious chat when they were face-to-face and felt he had a lot to deal with at work and at home during this time.

Ms Dickinson concluded: “(The complainant) felt unable to tell Peall to stop because of her own past relationships.

“She did not know if he was the sort of person who would turn up to her house unannounced and so she did not want to annoy him … In various attempts to deflect attention away from her, she would ask Peall what he meant by what he said or by switching the conversation back to the investigation.

“She wanted to engage with the police investigation as the victims of the crimes being investigated were elderly and clients of the company she worked for but she was also conscious that she did not want to upset him, particularly as she had no idea what type of person he was.

“The bottom line was that (she) did not want to be pursued by Peall and as a witness who tried to assist a police investigation, she additionally had to deal with unwanted advances from him.”

The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court at 10.30am on Tuesday.