A MET Police officer allegedly sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman in her hotel room after being sent to check on her.
PC Rudvelle Walters, 48, is accused of slapping the woman's bottom and putting his hand down her underwear while in his cop uniform.
A court heard Walters was conducting a welfare check in the early hours of February 5, 2019, after the complainant was reported missing following an argument with her husband.
She sought "shelter" at the Best Western Hotel in Wembley, north west London, with a close friend.
After allegedly putting his hand down her pants, the officer sent the woman a Facebook friend request after asking for her name and telephone number, the court was told.
He also tried to pull the duvet off her friend and "get a kiss from her", Southwark Crown Court heard.
The woman was so shocked by his behaviour she thought he must have been a friend of her husband's out for revenge wearing a police costume.
Walters was suspended from duty after being charged with the sexual assault of the Polish woman in her 20s, who does not speak English.
He denies the assault and claims the two women aggressively gave him a "bear hug", he lost his balance and his cuffs had dug into her as he fell.
He also claims he interacted with the woman on social media because she had sent a friend request on his phone and he was unfamiliar with how Facebook worked.
The Met Police made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which carried out an investigation.
Walters was initially placed on restricted duties and was subsequently suspended.
Prosecutor Abigail Husbands said: "The defendant in this case is a serving police officer.
"As part of his duties, he attended a hotel room to conduct a welfare check on a lady who had been reported missing: she was sheltering with her friend, having had an argument with her husband.
"The officer attended to check that she was safe and well.
"Rather than doing this from outside the hotel room itself, he went into the room and whilst there, he sexually assaulted the missing woman, by putting his hand into her underwear."
'SHE WAS SCARED'
Ms Husbands said that two police officers were assigned to the call, with one remaining at the station conducting enquiries and the other, Walters, going on scene visits.
The woman had been reported missing and agreed to give police her location providing they did not pass it on to her husband, the court heard.
Walters arrived at the hotel at 6.07am wearing his police uniform and beanie.
"[The woman] wasn't expecting him to go into the hotel room, her friend was still in bed," Ms Husbands said.
"She had thought that he would just show his ID at the hotel room door and that would be it, but that is not what happened."
She became concerned that he may not in fact be a police officer at all, but something to do with her husband.
The prosecutor said: "Whilst in the room, PC Walters talked to [the woman] about the argument with her husband, how long she had been in England.
"She said it was very early in the morning and was happy to go to the police station to discuss it all in detail the following day rather than discussing it then.
"She was told it was procedure to give her name, surname and phone number and she did so. He then found her on Facebook and sent her an invite to become friends on Facebook with her.
"[The woman] began to feel uncomfortable and she asked him to leave.
"He said he would if her friend gave him a kiss, and he tried to pull the duvet off her and to get a kiss from her."
Ms Husbands continued: "[The woman] tried to get him to stop. She was feeling stressed, she'd never been in a situation where she'd been reported missing.
"She became scared. She was trying to speak in English but he probably didn't understand everything and she didn't understand what he was saying.
"She noticed that his body-worn camera was not on as the red light wasn't flashing. Her husband worked in security so she knew how the cameras worked.
"She became concerned that he may not in fact be a police officer at all, but something to do with her husband.
"She went to the door of the hotel room to let him out. She reached to let him out with her right hand.
"He was standing facing her with his back to the door. He then put his right hand up the left hand side of her shorts."
The prosecutor said the officer told his alleged victim he would come back after his shift ended at 7am to bring some food, despite her saying she was not hungry.
Ms Husbands said the alleged victim's friend was "in tears" after Walters left, adding that she thought "it must have been someone sent by her husband as the man could not have been a police officer".
She attended the police station the following day and told officers what had happened.
Southwark Crown Court heard Walters was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on February 6, 2019, and gave a pre-prepared statement that he did not slap the bottom or put his hand down the knickers of the missing female.
Walters, from Luton, Bedfordshire, who wore a grey shirt, coat, tie and blue medical facemask in the dock, denies sexual assault.
The trial continues.
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