Ex-Metropolitan Police officer accused of performing sex act over child

A former Metropolitan Police officer entered a young girl’s room in the middle of the night before performing a sex act over the child, a court has heard.

Andrew Kirkland appeared before a jury at Reading Crown Court today accused of sexually assaulting the child in 2021.

The 42-year-old former neighbourhood policeman, who was based at Ickenham, London, denies the charge. 

Andrew Kirkland (Hyde News & Pics)

Opening the trial today, Paul Fairley, prosecuting, described the alleged offence as “serious” and “unpleasant”.

The court heard how Kirkland allegedly visited the girl’s bedroom at around 3am when he thought she was asleep and pulled back the duvet covers before performing a sex act on himself.

Andrew Kirkland worked for the Metropolitan Police

The girl then raised the alarm and said her bed had been left “wet” by Kirkland, prosecutors said.

The child claimed that Kirkland had ‘pulled back the covers and could see her bum’. She accused him of taking pictures of her naked.

The police were called, and the bedsheets were seized along with Kirkland’s phone.

Kirkland was arrested and during a police interview, he said he was ‘aroused’ that evening and had masturbated, the trial heard. 

He claimed he wiped semen from his hand to his belly and then changed the girl’s sheets, suggesting how the substance got onto her covers.

Reading Crown Court

According to the prosecution, DNA testing showed semen stains on the child’s nighty and bed sheets.

The DNA investigator who conducted the tests told the court: “The scientific findings provide extremely strong support for the view that Andrew Kirkland entered the girl’s bedroom, as alleged and ejaculated onto her bed rather than he did not, but [he] may have transferred semen onto the items from his hand.”

The trial continues.

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