A RETIRED Hereford police officer accused of sexual offences with a young girl has told a jury he was never alone with her.

Alan Saffery said he had sex once with her after she had turned 16 but denied any sexual activity with her between the ages of 12 and 15.

Saffery is accused of having sex with the girl in the late 1970s when he moved from Shrewsbury to Hereford.

The girl has told a jury at Worcester Crown Court she was "obsessed" with the police officer, who was then in his twenties.

But Saffery said he had only ever had contact with the girl while others were present said he would just be friendly.

"We would just have normal conversations," he said.

Saffery said he had then moved from Hereford to Leominster in 1981 and invited the girl to visit him because he was proud of his new home. She was then 16 and they started "larking around".

"There was a bit of kissing and cuddling and one thing led to another," he said. They had consensual sex in his bedroom and that was the only time, he told the jury.

The 61-year-old, of Spinney Grove, Hampton Dene, Hereford, denies six charges of indecent assault on the girl between 1977 and 1981 when she was aged between 12 and 15.

He also denies two charges of sexual intercourse with her when she was under 13 and two charges of rape involving a second girl aged under 16 in 1986.

Saffery also denies two charges of having child porn images on his computer in 2013 when the abuse allegations were made and police investigated.

He told the jury about his career in the police which included two commendations. He had tackled an armed robbery and had once been hospitalised by a stabbing.

He retired in 2002 but was asked to return to work in the criminal justice unit under the retained officers scheme for a further nine years. He also said he had been a volunteer driver for the ambulance service.

The jury has been told that the second woman made a number of complaints after the alleged assaults in 1986.

She told others, including mental health professionals, she had been raped by a policeman when she was 15. Saffery denied ever having sex with the woman.

He also told the court he had no interest in child porn. He said the 14 images found by police on his computer must have been there accidentally following searches he had made in response to a national newspaper campaign aimed at blocking online porn.

He said he put in an internet search “to see what all the fuss was about” as he considered signing up to the Daily Mail campaign. But, he said, he had not deliberately searched for under-age porn.

The trial continues.