BULWELL: Court watches DVD recording of woman recalling how she was allegedly sexually abused by police officer,

The 44-year-old was unable to hold back the tears as she recalled the events of 1975 to 1978 to a detective sergeant at West Bridgford police station in July last year.

“He used to do bad things to me -- sexual stuff,” she said. “At the time, I knew it was wrong, but I was scared.

“I have kept it to myself for 36 years, but it has always been at the forefront of my mind, and it has had an impact on my relationships. I wish I could put it behind me.

“I have been married, but I could not cope. It freaked me out.”

The woman remembered Martin as ‘a policeman in uniform who was frequently at their home in Bulwell.

The woman gave graphic accounts of the alleged sexual abuse, which first happened while she was sleeping in her own bunk bed, but then took place on his bed too.

“It wasn’t just a one-off,” she said. “It became a common occurrence. He would shout for me and say things like: ‘Shush, come here and shut the door. It’s all right. Lift up your nightie. I am not going to hurt you’.

She said Martin did not rape her but had indecently touched her.

She said: “At the time, I didn’t know what he was doing. Afterwards, he just lay there and went to sleep. I just remember being uncomfortable and sore.

“He would never hug me or kiss me. It was just a case of ‘OK, done now, off you go’.

“More than once, I was in bed with him. He lay there naked. My stepdad came in one occasion, but he shouted at me so much. He should have protected me! I was left thinking ‘who do I obey here?’”

The woman said she told no-one about the abuse until she left Bulwell in 1979 to go and live with her natural father.

“All hell broke loose when I told him that the policeman used to touch me,” she said.

“But when a police officer came to see me, I was too embarrassed and shy to talk to her. I couldn’t tell her, so my dad said: ‘Just leave it. She is not capable of dealing with it.”

Martin (71) denies eight charges of indecent assault against the woman.

THE TRIAL IS CONTINUING