Met Police officer accused of raping two women ‘shocked’ to be arrested

A serving Metropolitan Police officer accused of raping two women in 11 days while off duty has said he was “shocked and surprised” when he was arrested.

Suspended Pc Rupert Edwards, 30, is alleged to have raped one woman in Epsom, Surrey, and the other in Lambeth, south London.

Edwards, from Ashtead, Surrey, raped the two women after meeting them in bars on August 26 2022 and September 5 2022, prosecutors said.

Giving evidence at Inner London Crown Court on Friday, Edwards said he treated the women, who are in their 20s and 30s, well and denied attacking them.

Edwards told police the second complainant never said she did not want sexual intercourse without contraception, and that they engaged in consensual sexual activity.

Prosecutor Robert Brown previously told the court the first complainant met Edwards on a night out and danced with him, before “kissing the defendant, who she found attractive” at a bar.

They later got a cab back to her home and had consensual sex “at least once, possibly twice”.

The complainant claims she later told him “I can’t go again” but the defendant pulled her leg up and initiated further sexual intercourse, Mr Brown said.

Asked if the woman told him she did not want to have sex again because she was “tired and sore”, Edwards said: “I do not agree with that”.

Mr Brown continued: “You prioritised your own sexual gratification over her wishes didn’t you?” Edwards replied: “No”.

The second count of rape on the indictment relates to another woman who was interviewed by police on September 6 2022, the court previously heard.

Mr Brown said the woman recalls engaging in consensual sex with him at the address but “told him from the outset there could be no intercourse” because they did not have any condoms.

The woman said Edwards agreed to this but she was later awoken when he raped her, jurors heard.

The prosecutor said: “Isn’t the truth that she said you couldn’t have sex because she had no condoms?” Edwards replied: “No”.

When pressed by Mr Brown, the suspended Pc said: “At no point was she asleep [during sex].”

Edwards said the woman had been a “similar level of drunk” to him, adding he was “shocked and surprised” to be arrested the next morning.

He said he deleted all of his social media after his arrest because it was a “difficult time” and he “didn’t want to be on there”.

Asked by Mr Brown if he had “treated her well and sensitively”, Edwards replied: “Yes”.

The trial continues.