BULWELL: Former police officer sexually abused girl, court is told

Alan Martin faces charges that date back to the 1970s when he was a uniformed constable in his early to mid-30s.

Martin, who is now 71, pleads not guilty to eight counts of indecently assaulting the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, between 25th July 1975 and 20th May 1978.

Opening the case against the former policeman, Richard Thatcher (prosecuting) told the jury: “Her life has been blighted by what Martin did to her as a child between the ages of seven and nine.

“He told her she was a good girl and that the sexual activity was their secret which should be kept between them.

“On no occasion did she cry or protest. Rather, she froze. She knew he was a policeman and she felt she needed to do what he told her.”

Mr Thatcher explained that the ‘life endured by the girl and her younger brother appears to have been truly dreadful’.

“They were effectively neglected by their mother and stepfather,” said the barrister.

“They were frequently dirty and smelly and, therefore, ostracised at school, where they were bullied.

“They were so hungry that the girl’s brother stole sweets from the local shop, and she was put on to such an extent that when her mum gave birth again, she was expected to look after the baby and get up in the night to feed it.

“Both children were also treated violently by their mother and stepfather -- and it was this neglect and violence that Martin took advantage of. He used the gap in the parenting for his own ends.”

Mr Thatcher said Martin, who now lives on Teesbrook Drive in Wollaton, committed the abuse once a fortnight over a period of two years.

The girl claimed her mother and stepfather knew what was happening, but did nothing. On one occasion, her stepfather even walked in to find the girl lying next to Martin on his bed. But he vented his anger at the girl, rather than the police officer, throwing a cushion at her.

The court was told that the abuse stopped after the youngster went to live with her father and his new wife in Aspley.

A complaint was made to the police about Martin, but when interviewed, the girl was ‘too embarrassed to get her words out’.

When, by chance, as a 16-year-old, she spotted Martin again working at a bingo hall, she had to run away.

She finally plucked up the courage to report the abuse and ‘tell the full truth’, the court was told, after a family wedding in April 2013 when she tried, in vain, to confront her stepfather.

What helped her to recollect when the abuse took place was the fact that it coincided with the pop group, Brotherhood Of Man, winning the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’.

This, said Mr Thatcher, was one of Martin’s favourite tunes. “He used to whistle it or hum it all the time,” he told the jury.

THE TRIAL IS CONTINUING.