A prostitute has told a court that she feared being arrested if she did not buy drugs and have sex with a police constable.

Pc Jasbir Singh Dhanda, of Littleover, Derby, is alleged to have had sex with the woman several times whilst on duty and to have asked her to buy him cocaine.

The 52-year-old, who denies misconduct in public office and misusing a police database to research other women, was said to have tipped off the prostitute about warrants out for her arrest.

Giving evidence today at Nottingham Crown Court, the woman told how she first met the officer in 2000 before he started to visit her regularly for sex and drugs.

She told the court that she thought he was one of the “good guys” because he would warn her about the warrant on a Friday and advise her to hand herself in to police on the Monday.

She said that at the time she was a prostitute who had been addicted to heroin and cocaine for 18 years. “Heroin was my world”, she said. “I’d do anything not to be in a cell away from heroin.”

Referring to the drugs, she said: “He knew I’d be rattling.”

When he then asked her to buy cocaine for him she said she did as asked. “They are police officers. You don’t ask questions you know, they are the law.”

But she told the court: “He wanted something in return for not arresting me. He wanted sex.”

The woman was asked by police during interview in February 2011 when she had last seen the accused. “He arrested me last year. I was drunk at the time.”

She told police she thought it had been nearly winter when the arrest took place.

Kevin Baumber, defending, today told the court the arrest had actually taken place in May 2009.

“Do you remember who issued the fixed penalty notice?” he asked the complainant. “No, but I was drunk at the time,” she said.

Mr Baumber told the court that Dhanda’s signature was on the fine.

On one occasion, the court heard that Dhanda had pulled up to the complainant with another woman in the car, whom the complainant believed to be another officer.

“Did you ever see that woman again?”, the complainant was asked.

“No”, she replied.

However later she said that she had seen the woman again and would be able to recognise her if she saw her.

Yesterday Neil Moore, prosecuting, told the court that Dhanda targeted women who were “vulnerable, capable of being taken advantage of, or exploited”.

Mr Moore said that, because of the women’s difficulties, it was alleged that Dhanda believed it was more likely they would agree to sex, or less likely to report him, and if they did, they would not be taken seriously because of their circumstances.

The police constable, who is suspended from Derbyshire Police pending the outcome of criminal proceedings, faces seven counts of misconduct in a public office and five counts of obtaining personal data.

News published on: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/05/pc-jasbir-singh-dhanda-sex-with-prostitute-in-return-for-drugs_n_1186161.html