Bid to recruit woman 'as informant'

A former Christchurch police officer accused of extorting sex from a prostitute maintained he was recruiting the woman as an informant when he had sex with her in a Belfast cemetery, a court has heard.

The High Court in Christchurch yesterday was shown a video of then-constable Nathan Connolly being questioned about the relationship by Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey on September 11, 2007.

Connolly, 31, is on trial before Justice French, charged with obtaining a bribe and two charges of sex with consent induced by a threat.

Connolly, wearing police uniform, was shown on the video saying he had known the complainant, as a customer, since age 18, before he joined the police force.

He maintained throughout the video interview that he was attempting to recruit the woman as an informant, but he had succumbed to her offer of "freebies".

He said he encountered her once at the Christchurch Central Police Station and again while canvassing prostitutes on Manchester St during a police investigation.

However, under questioning from Harvey, he admitted he had not followed police procedure on informants, including not being alone with female informants to protect officers from allegations of impropriety.

In the interview, Harvey said it was strange that the woman did not know Connolly's name as this would be essential for an informant to be able to pass on information.

Connolly initially denied having any sexual relations with the woman but after questioning he said he had received manual and oral sex from her – what they called "doing a job".

He denied having intercourse, and said he "never did a job in a police car".

Harvey then showed him a photograph of the Belfast area where the two had sex.

Connolly admitted he had had sex with her, although he said it was oral sex, not intercourse.

He later admitted having full sex with the woman, but said it was at other times.

Connolly's account of how the Belfast incident developed was different to the prostitute's.

He said after he pulled her over and gave her a warning about her unregistered and unwarranted car, she asked him if he was alone and then invited him to have sex.

He said he told her he had no money, but the woman said it would be "kinky" to have sex in a police car.

Earlier, the woman denied his version, saying she was too scared to ask for payment.

"I knew taking her up on that offer that night was so detrimental to my wife, my children. I felt really terrible about it," Connolly told Harvey.

In the video, Harvey told him a search warrant had been served on his house so his wife, with whom Connolly had three young children, knew about the charges.

"And the police deserved more than you cheating on them while you were working," Harvey said.