A jury has begun deliberations in the trial of a police officer who is accused of raping a girl under the age of 13.

James Ford, 31, of Hertfordshire Police, is charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse against the same child, which are said to have happened between 2019 and 2021.

At Cambridge Crown Court, the defendant, formerly of Bishop’s Stortford, is also accused of carrying out an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he “deliberately wiped his phone by factory resetting his Samsung Mobile phone”.

Ford, an intervention officer, denies all of the charges.

The 10 sexual offence charges include four of rape, four of sexual assault and two of causing or inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Hertfordshire Police said Ford was suspended from duties in November.

Jurors were sent home for the day at 4.30pm and will resume deliberations on Wednesday morning.