by Paul Hooper

The jury in the attempted rape case involving a Whitstable special police officer has been told by a judge to ask: “Did Michael Brock tell lies?”

The 25-year-old former police community support officer and special constable has denied attempting to rape a 20-year-old Whitstable woman.

She claimed she was attacked by Brock who took off her trousers and knickers during the alleged assault last December.

Brock, of Cornwallis Circle, Whitstable, claims she consented to the sex play – but then suddenly stopped and lashed out at him.

Now Judge Adele Williams, in her summing up to the Canterbury Crown Court jury, said today the Crown claim Brock told lies to the officer who arrested him.

She said: “The defendant disputes that he lied and said he was panicking and trying to emphasise that he hadn’t done anything that amounted to attempted rape.

“You must decide whether he deliberately lied and whether they were important lies. If the answer is yes, then you must ask yourself another question: Why did he lie?”

The judge said Brock’s evidence in the witness box differed from what he told police after his arrest.

He said in his evidence that he had pushed the girl three times after he was attacked by her in the car park.

But the judge told the jury: “He admits that he failed to mention that when he was being interviewed.

“This failure may count against him because you may draw the conclusion that his failure was because he had no answer at the time and he has since tailored his account to fit the prosecution evidence.”

Judge Williams said the prosecution case is that the girl ran away after Brock launched his sex attack.

“You should ask yourself why did she run away, up Middle Row, half naked, naked from the waist down? The prosecution say it was because she was the victim of an attempted rape.

“On the defendant’s version of events, he left her in a NatWest car park with her trousers and pants round her ankles. Why didn’t she pull them up if he left her there?

“The defence argue that she conceived the idea immediately to make a false allegation against him and took her own clothes off.”

The Crown claim that the girl sustained 13 separate injuries including bruises and grazes to her arms, palms, knees and feet.

The jury is has retired to consider its verdict this afternoon.