A female police officer who claims she was raped repeatedly by a Met PC kept quiet about the alleged abuse for years because initial attempts to report him were “swept under the carpet”, a court heard.
Adam Provan, 43, is accused of a series of rapes against two different women, and faces claims he was “overbearing” and “manipulative” and used his police role to exert control.
One of the alleged victims, herself a police officer, reported Provan for “abuse and harassment”, Wood Green crown court heard, and says she was disappointed with the response.
“She felt her allegations were swept under the carpet,” said prosecutor Anthony Metzer KC. “For her own sake and that of her career, she felt she should keep quiet about it. In light of such a response, she did not feel able to disclose the rapes.”
Provan denies eight counts of rape, and insisted when he was first questioned: “I have never ever hurt anyone in a sexual nature in my life.”
The first alleged victim accuses Provan of six rapes and said the abuse “has blighted the rest of her life”, Mr Metzer told the court.
“It is serious allegations of control and abuse of power at the hands of this defendant, who at the time was a serving police officer with the Metropolitan Police.”
The woman claims Provan was “violent towards her” during sex, including putting a pillow over her face until she found it difficult to breathe.
Mr Metzer said Provan also faces allegations of controlling behaviour, telling the woman she “was fat, ugly, and no one would ever want to sleep with her”.
“He even went so far as to tell her what to wear,” he added, and is once accused of saying to the woman he “hoped she would get raped”.
Provan’s second accuser says she was just 16 when she was raped by the officer, then aged about 30, on a “hellish” first date. Jurors heard Provan agreed to meet the girl’s father before they went to the cinema.
But the prosecutor said: “The defendant drove away with her, and after about 15 to 25 minutes’ drive he pulled out into a car park by some woods. The defendant asked for a kiss, aggressively kissing her neck and touching her breasts. He pulled a condom out of his pocket.
“He asked if they should ‘do it’ — have sex — she said ‘no’.”
Provan is alleged to have raped the girl while he “pinned her against a tree” and then drove to a McDonald’s for milkshakes before taking the girl to a children’s playground and forcing her to perform oral sex.
Provan denied anything sexual happened during the date in 2010. But Mr Metzer said he “had a determination to have sex” without any regard to the women’s desires.
Provan, who lives near Newmarket in Suffolk, denies all the charges and the trial continues.
