A police officer used an official database to search for vulnerable women – including a prostitute – to have sex with while on duty, a court heard on Wednesday.

PC Jasbir Singh Dhanda, 52, from Derby, smoked crack with one of the women after obtaining her personal data through the misuse of a police information.

He went on trial today charged with 12 counts of misconduct in a public office while he was a serving officer with Derbyshire Police over a seven-year period.

The court heard that one of the three complainants was a prostitute in Derby who was addicted to cocaine and heroin.

Opening his case at Nottingham Crown Court today, Neil Moore, prosecuting, told the jury that Dhanda had sex with two of the three complainants.

Mr Moore said: “He visited them at their homes in order to carry out a sexual relationship with them and in the third complainant’s case in the hope that she would agree to take part in a sexual relationship.”

Dhanda targeted the three women because they were vulnerable and because he did not believe they would report him, Mr Moore said.

Even if they did report him, Dhanda thought their complaints would not be taken seriously due to the womens’ circumstances, he added.

He denies all the charges. The case continues.