The alleged victim, a businesswoman in her 30s, said she developed romantic feelings for 48-year-old David Longden-Thergund after she met him on a dating app. Jurors at Winchester court heard that Longden-Thurgood, a Hampshire police officer and divorced father of three, told her before they met in person that he would protect her “for life”. Giving evidence, the woman said that when they met at her house, they kissed on her couch while watching a Netflix show. She said she told him, “I will not have sex with you tonight.” She asked if she wanted to go upstairs to hug and continue watching the show, warning him “it’s not funny”, but a few minutes later she found him only in his underwear on her bed. He said: “She did not touch him. He was the only one who made the touch”. The woman said he then raped her. “I have said before that we do not have sex, I definitely said it when we were in the bedroom. He did not say no to the answer, and at this point I was worried about my children. “Not [concerned] about the harm to my children, but what they might have witnessed, I do not know what he could have done if I tried to get him out by force. I did not enjoy it. I had not verbally consented to it, I had said that I did not want to have sex “. The woman said that before the attack “I was reassured by the fact that he was a police officer”. Speaking to the court following the alleged attack, he told the court: “I did not know how to get him out of my house. I lay on the bed, on the edge away from him “. The next day after the alleged rape, as the court heard, the woman told a friend what had happened when they were picking up their children from school. In messages to Longden-Thurgood, the woman said: “I kept saying, ‘No, we’re not having sex.’ “I did not mind a spoon and a little toy, but I think you intended to come here and have sex, it got to the point where I stopped saying no.” The officer, who has served for 19 years, told her she was “miserable” and “torsional”, said she was “blowing too much” and insisted they go ahead and go out for a drink. Longden-Thurgood, from Waterlooville, denies the rape. The trial continues.
