A serving Kent Police officer “felt flattered” and “enjoyed the attention” from text messages sent by a witness during a burglary investigation, a court has heard.
Matthew Peall, 47, who is based in Canterbury, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of misconduct in a judicial or public office.
He allegedly shared flirtatious text messages, emails and phone calls with a care home manager while investigating the burglary of an elderly client between October and December 2019.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, Peall maintained that the complainant had also wanted a sexual relationship.
Asked by Ryan Dowding, defending, what led him to engage in conversations with the complainant, Peall said: “I was not in a good place. I felt flattered.
“(I thought the complainant) had winked at me, and she flirted with me and I flirted back.”
Asked why he did not report the conversations, he said: “I have had many years now to think about this and I don’t know why I didn’t.”
Getting emotional in the witness box, Peall added: “I would not wish this upon anybody.”
The court heard a prepared statement given by Peall during an interview with the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the matter in August 2020.
In the statement, the defendant said he “accepted there were flirtatious messages by text” sent to the complainant but no such conversations had happened face-to-face.
He said he was struggling with his workload which had “taken its toll on me” at the time of the allegations and that there were “difficulties” at home.
Peall had a breakdown at work in March 2019 and subsequent problems sleeping, and all of these factors had “contributed to me foolishly engaging in these exchanges”, the statement said.
Asked by Mr Dowding in court if he stood by his 2020 statement and accepted that his messages were flirtatious, Peall replied: “Yes, they were.”
The court heard Peall had joined Kent Police in 2014 and started as a patrol officer before moving into the vulnerable investigations team.
The defendant was signposted to self-refer to counselling and welfare services by the force in February 2019, but having filled out the appropriate form he received no follow-up.
The court previously heard Peall had visited the complainant’s house twice on October 22 and 28 2019 to obtain two witness statements about a burglary, which had been reported earlier that month.
These were the only two occasions they met in person, and the complainant confirmed Peall did not try to make contact with her on social media and did not try to arrange a meeting at an external location.
Peall told the court there was “some light chat” on the first visit to the complainant’s house to “build a rapport”.
On his second visit for the second statement, he said he was “absolutely convinced” the defendant had winked at him and that she “had interest” in him.
The defendant said he took the complainant’s sending of a “winking face” emoji by text as validation of his beliefs.
Peall told the jury he was “having second thoughts” by the end of November 2019 and that he was “quite glad” when contact eventually stopped between them.
Put to him by prosecutor Zarah Dickinson that he was the one in the main instigating sexual messages between them, Peall said: “Not that I have noticed.”
Put to him that he was using talk of needing a third statement as an “excuse to meet up for sex” with the complainant, Peall replied: “The messages were clearly in that direction anyway – I would not have needed an excuse.”
Peall denied the suggestion from Ms Dickinson that there was a “clear imbalance of power” between the defendant and complainant and said there was “no vulnerability” on her behalf.
Also giving evidence in the trial on Wednesday, Gary Lidder, lead investigator for the IOPC, told the jury the complainant did not raise concerns to the police about the messages but that Kent Police conducted an audit on Peall’s phone and identified a potential “abuse of position for a sexual purpose”.
A mandatory referral was then made by the force to the IOPC on February 19 2020.
The court heard Peall was informed in 2021 that the criminal investigation was no longer active, but that this decision was appealed and reversed by the IOPC.
Mr Dowding told the court Kent Police had no training package in place for officers in 2019 which covered “abuse of position for a sexual purpose” and that no such package was introduced until 2021.
Ms Dickinson said to Peall that, despite no training being available, it was “pretty clear that you should not approach a witness and try to have sex with them”.
The defendant replied: “I considered it and I believe that she did the same.”
Put to him by Mr Dowding that police guidance available at the time of the alleged offence gave “no absolute bar” for having relationships with members of the public unless they were vulnerable, Mr Lidder said the complainant was not vulnerable “in the traditional sense” but had been affected by the loss of an elderly patient.
Peall, who has no previous convictions, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and has been suspended from duty.
The trial continues.
