PC faces jail for raping two teenagers

A POLICE officer was convicted yesterday of "date" raping two teenagers and indecently assaulting a third woman after chatting them up while on duty.

In all three cases Constable John Blott, 33, tricked his victims into returning home with him on their first date, where he raped or molested them after his sexual advances where resisted.

The former professional footballer, who was said to regard himself as "gorgeous" and "some kind of sexual Olympian", now faces a long prison sentence and the sack. The officer from Cleveland Police was cleared by the jury at Leeds Crown Court of three charges of indecent assault and the judge ordered that one charge of rape and three indecent assaults be laid on file.

Blott's victims, all of whom were from Teesside area, trusted him because of his job and initially failed to report the attacks because they thought they would not be believed against the word of a policeman. He had denied all the charges.

His first victim was a 16-year-old college student he met in August 1993. He arranged a date and on the night told her he needed to drive to his home to pick something up. Once inside he forced her into the bedroom, pulled her to the floor and raped her. He then stood her up and raped her a second time.

In November 1994, Blott indecently assaulted an Inland Revenue worker, aged 22, he chatted up while on duty outside Middlesbrough town hall.

He arranged to take her for a drink, but drove her to his home and showed her photographs of him with topless women. He pulled her to the floor, fondled her breasts, and told her three times: "You know I'm going to rape you tonight." When she continued to resist his advances Blott masturbated in front of her and then watched football on television.

The second rape took place in March 1995, when Blott attacked an 18-year- old garage receptionist twice in his living room, leaving her "stunned, drained and utterly disgusted".

Blott of New Marske, near Redcar, Cleveland, boasted in interviews with police that he was a good looking man who had picked up hundreds of women during his 10 years with the Cleveland force.

"In uniform they seem to throw themselves at me. I could not count the number of girls I have gone out with. I must have slept with at least 300, so I'm hardly sex-starved," he said.

Blott was remanded in custody until 15 May for sentencing. He remained impassive in court as the judge told him he could expect a "substantial" jail term.

After the verdicts, Blott's solicitor, Simon Catterall, said: "He doesn't believe he has done anything wrong and he will take his denials to the grave."

Chief Inspector Dave Martin, from Cleveland Police, later said the detectives had spoken to hundreds of women during their inquiry into Blott's behaviour. Blott had "let the force down and disgraced the uniform that he wore", he said.

Rape convictions against police officers are rare. In 1995 Michael Seear, 25, was cleared of raping a fellow constable a station section house after a New Year party. In December 1995, PC Adam Grice-Roberts, 32, was jailed for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year- old girl in his patrol car.