A SERVING Worcester police officer has denied raping a woman, as his alleged victim gave evidence behind a screen.

West Mercia Police officer Gary Jones denies two counts of rape at his trial at Worcester Crown Court, which began on Monday.

The 45-year-old is accused of raping the woman between June and September 2006.

She claims Jones put his hand over her mouth when he raped her.

The alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, made the rape complaint in February 2010.

She said she had not wanted to pursue the complaint but was told police were investigating it anyway.

She told the jury it was a police officer who decided to take the matter to professional standards, not her.

She said she believed the conversation with the officer was ‘confidential’ and was told Jones would be investigated ‘regardless’ of whether she pursued a complaint.

Sharonjit Bahia, representing Jones, said: “I’m going to suggest from the outset that you have lied about these rapes. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“No, that’s not right,” said the woman, who told the jury of six men and six women that she had post traumatic stress disorder as a result of what had happened.

She said she could not remember dates when quizzed by Miss Bahia, who told her she was trying to ‘paint a picture to the police that wasn’t true’.

The witness, who described herself as ‘ashamed’, said: “It happened to me. I didn’t want to talk about it.”

She also said the defendant’s brother had told her that if she talked about it she would ‘disappear’, ‘just like he had made people disappear in his previous job’.

“I was told to keep quiet,” she said, telling the jury that Jones, a long serving officer, had been coming up for retirement at the time.

At one point the woman stopped to say: “I can hear people laughing. I don’t appreciate it.”

When pressed to answer how many times Jones had raped her, she said: “I did not count on my fingers how many times he raped me. I did not keep that kind of record.”

She added: “It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing you have been made that vulnerable by someone.”

Miss Bahia challenged her, putting it to her that she had never told her doctor or the sexual health clinic that she had been raped by Jones.

The alleged victim said there was ‘a chance’ she could have said something although she could have ‘hidden it’.

The court heard how Jones, a West Mercia officer, was based at Malvern then Worcester. While at the police station for an unrelated matter she said she had told an officer what happened to her because he had asked why she was nervous about being in a police station which was ‘supposed to be a safe place’.

The alleged victim had also asked the officer if he knew Jones and said at that stage she did not know who was his friend and who was not.

The trial continues.