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A police officer accused of having a threesome with a drunk women and a fellow cop in the back of his patrol car has told a jury it would have been ‘physically impossible’ to carry out such an act.

PC Matthew Longmate, 47, was on duty with PC Daniel Nash, 41, in Chesterfield town centre when they offered the woman a lift home following an incident at the Association Bar, before the alleged romp took place.

The woman claims she had intercourse with Nash while she performed a sex act on his Derbyshire Constabulary colleague Longmate on October 4, 2015. Nash admitted misconduct but has since died of cancer, jurors have heard.

Longmate told the court Nash had lied in his statement when he said he and the defendant both had sex with the woman in their patrol car. He told the court, it would have been physically impossible to be having sex in the back of a police car’ as well as performing a sex act.

Former PC Matthew Longmate, 46, faces one misconduct charge

Former PC Matthew Longmate, 46, faces one misconduct charge

Longmate said that he recalled giving the woman a lift on the night of the incident, but denied that any sexual activity had taken place.

Defence barrister Charles Blatchford asked him: ‘Did you have a sexual encounter with her?’

‘Certainly not’, Longmate replied.

‘Have you ever had a sexual encounter with her?’

Longmate replied: ‘Certainly not.’

The officer said he would have been wearing a lot of police equipment, including a stab vest and utility belt containing a baton and first aid kit, which would have been hard to take off inside the car.

‘It’s very difficult. It’s very time-consuming,’ he told jurors. ‘You would have to get out of the car to take the equipment off. It’s very cumbersome.’

Mr Blatchford asked him: ‘Could you take it off in the car?’

‘I very much doubt it,’ he replied.

He also said it would have been impossible for the woman to have attempted to have sex with the gearstick as Nash described in his statement because of the radio located in the front of the car.

Longmate said Nash was a serial philanderer and had not been his friend. ‘It was common knowledge throughout the department he used to sleep around and talk about it openly,’ he added.

Former PC Daniel Nash, 40, faced 13 charges of misconduct in a public office - he has since passed away from cancer (pictured in 2022)

Former PC Daniel Nash, 40, faced 13 charges of misconduct in a public office – he has since passed away from cancer (pictured in 2022)

Mr Blatchford asked him whether he trusted Nash. Longmate replied: ‘Far from it. There was a consensus on shift that one day he would try to take somebody down with him and get them into trouble.’

He added: ‘He wasn’t very trustworthy, both in work and out of work. Within work he was known to be very slack and didn’t do a proper job, and out of work he was a serial cheater on his wife.’

Longmate said that although he had been paired up with Nash at the start of his shift, it was not uncommon for officers to swap cars without notifying command, and that records of who attended incidents may not be accurate.

Prosecutor Polly Dyer asked him: ‘Where did you go if you got out of the car you were in with Mr Nash?’

Longmate replied: ‘We would take refreshments, do paperwork, jump in with others… I can’t say what happened eight years ago.’

Ms Dyer asked: ‘Is it then a coincidence that you didn’t attend any other incidents in that vehicle?

‘There is no record of you logging onto your computer. Would you have been taking refreshments for two hours?’

The jury had earlier heard that Longmate’s whereabouts were unaccounted for on police records between 2.16am and 4.12am.

‘Who got into the vehicle with Mr Nash?’ Ms Dyer asked. ‘I don’t know,’ Longmate replied.

Ms Dyer pressed him on this: ‘Can you tell me any options? I am going to suggest to you that all other officers have been excluded.’

He said there were plenty of alternatives that hadn’t been excluded.

The two police officers are said to have offered the woman a lift home following an incident at the Association Bar

The two police officers are said to have offered the woman a lift home following an incident at the Association Bar

Ms Dyer also asked him about the statement he gave to police in January 2021, following Nash’s arrest.

In it Longmate said he and Nash had given a drunk female a lift on the evening in question, and that he could not see whether any sexual activity was taking place on the back seat between her and Nash.

The route he set out in the statement closely resembled that described by Nash in his own statement, where he also described the two officers having sex with the woman.

She put it to Longmate that ‘you were trying to cover your back, concerned that there could be evidence showing you had taken a journey with Mr Nash on the 4 October and you were seeking to explain that by putting the blame on Nash.’

Longmate denied this.

Ms Dyer then put it to him that when he subsequently became aware the police had not tracked him, he could then deny he had been in the car with Nash at all at the time of the incident.

The officer again denied this.

Longmate denies one charge of misconduct.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court was adjourned until Monday.

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This post first appeared on Daily mail