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A North Yorkshire Police officer is standing trial accused of sexually assaulting a colleague after spreading his legs and telling her: "You want a bit of this, don't you?"
Lee Meadows, 45, of Herringbone Drive in Doncaster, is standing trial at Bradford Crown Court charged with one count of sexual assault, said to have been committed against his colleague.
Prosecutor Deborah Smithies told jurors, as she opened the trial on Monday, that the alleged offence took place in September 2020, following an earlier incident, during which Mr Meadows
grabbed his crotch and winked at the woman. Ms Smithies said Mr Meadows had been described as a "seasoned officer" for who there was "little left to learn and this translated
perhaps into a degree of arrogance". She said he had "made a point" towards his alleged victim that he could "make people's lives as difficult as he wanted to".
Speaking of the earlier alleged incident, the prosecutor told jurors that it took place in September 2021. She said: "He was sitting over at some chairs and was rocking back on his
chair, with his legs spread wide and he looked at her in the eyes and grabbed his own crotch over his clothing, stroked his penis and said, 'You want a bit of this, don't
you?' And he winked and licked his lips." Ms Smithies said: "The prosecution say that that remark and that gesture was not just a bit of bad taste banter, but designed to make
her feel uncomfortable and was an old-fashioned display of dominance... She was taken aback and upset but at that moment she said nothing. She ignored him and walked past him." The
court heard that soon after, Mr Meadows allegedly sexually assaulted the woman. She said: "As she approached a door, he grabbed her from behind with both arms around the area of her
collarbone. He pulled her in close, pulling her in against his chest. "He thrust his hip onto the top of her buttocks and rubbed his groin area on her and was - quite literally -
breathing down her neck. After a few seconds, he suddenly let go and pushed her away with both hands laughing." The court was told that the woman told her partner of the first incident,
and later mentioned it to colleagues who encouraged her to report it, but did not fully open up until a year later. It was said her superior reported what she had told them and she was
interviewed. Ms Smithies said when discussing Mr Meadows with another colleague, she said he "disgusted her" and "became visibly upset, prompting them to question her, which
then led to her disclosing what is alleged. The prosecutor said: "The defendant was arrested and interviewed on 23rd December 2021, and gave a prepared statement saying the allegation
was malicious and wholly false and he made no comment to all questions. On 23rd March he was interviewed for a second time and denied all of the conduct described. "He said he had
submitted a formal grievance at work against a colleague about an unrelated matter and he thought it suspicious that her allegation had been made formally after he had done that. It was an
implication that they had something to do with her making a false and malicious allegation against him and that remains his position." _The trial continues._ GET BREAKING NEWS IN
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