A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a Metropolitan Police officer accused of raping a woman in the sea off Brighton beach after his stag do.
Sergeant Laurence Knight, 34, is said to have met the woman, a stranger, in the early hours of Saturday 17 July 2021 while in the centre of Brighton.
Prosecutors said that the pair walked to the beach together, undressed to their underwear and ended up in the sea, where sexual activity was alleged to have taken place.
The woman said that she repeatedly told him to “stop” and reminded him he was “getting married in two weeks”, jurors were told.
Knight, of Leyton, east London, denies rape and sexual assault.
The Met said that he had been suspended from duty.
In his evidence to the jury, Knight claimed that the woman first touched his penis.
He said that he then touched her vagina for a few seconds, thinking that it was consensual, before she made the comment about his imminent wedding and they returned to the shore.
He denied that he had any intention to penetrate her vagina.
The jury at Southwark Crown Court retired just before 12.50pm today (Wednesday 28 June).
