A married police officer had sex with a 14-year-old girl at his home after texting her saying he could be jailed if their affair was discovered, a court heard today. Christopher Semak is alleged to have exchanged hundreds of text messages with the schoolgirl, including one in which he said their relationship might make him "as bad as a paedophile".
Opening the case against Semak, who denies having any sexual contact with the girl, prosecutor David Jackson told Stafford Crown Court the 33-year-old officer was arrested after the teenager confided in a teacher. Addressing a jury of eight men and four women, Mr Jackson also claimed Semak, from Kings Norton, Birmingham, had committed offences against the girl in the back of a car.
Among the texts sent by Semak is one which is alleged to have read: "If we did things and it got out I could lose my job. "I could even go to prison because you are 14. It would make me as bad as the people I am trying to stop. It would make me as bad as a paedophile."
Police Officer Christopher Semak, 33, outside Stafford Crown Court
Jurors were told numerous "sexually explicit" texts were found on the girl's phone by her parents, who confronted Semak but did not contact the police. Mr Jackson told the court: "It was obvious to them (the girl's parents) that, in their minds, sexual activity was taking place between the two people exchanging the messages and that sexual activity had already taken place."
The alleged victim, the court heard, told her parents she had been in a mutual relationship with Semak and did not want the police to be contacted. But the youngster then spoke to a teacher at her school, which led to the involvement of child protection officials and the police.
Semak was arrested in January 2012, the court heard, and gave detectives a prepared statement claiming the girl had asked him for advice. The teenager had threatened to falsely inform the police that they had had sex, Semak said, prompting him to "stupidly" respond to her texts.
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In his statement to the police, Semak claimed: "I feared she would make a false allegation if I did not respond in this way." Concluding his opening speech to the jury, Mr Jackson said Semak's case was that his victim had "invented" her account and then blackmailed him.
The officer, who has been suspended from duty since April last year, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child.
In a video interview with a public protection officer, which was played to the jury, the alleged victim asserted that she had been pressured into sex by Semak. The teenager, who cannot be identified, added that she felt "used" by the policeman, who she said had admitted feeling hypocritical because of his job. The trial, which is expected to last for two weeks, was adjourned until tomorrow.