Pc accused of violent rape tells court he ‘would never get off on causing pain’

South Yorkshire Pc Rowan Horrocks is accused of raping the woman twice, biting her repeatedly and pulling out a clump of her hair.

Pc Rowan Horrocks appeared at Leeds Crown Court (PA) (PA Archive)

A South Yorkshire police officer who allegedly left a young woman with 23 injuries during a “violent rape” has told a court he “would never get off on causing pain to somebody”.

Pc Rowan Horrocks is accused of raping the woman twice, biting her repeatedly and pulling out a clump of her hair during the alleged assault in November 2021.

Leeds Crown Court heard Horrocks and the complainant had exchanged flirtatious messages in the months leading up to the incident but had not met in person.

Prosecutors say Horrocks, 27, “pressured” the woman into going back to his house by messaging her “persistently” while she was on a night out.

Prosecutor Gillian Batts told the court the complainant “had been drinking over a prolonged period” and was “in no fit state to consent to anything” when the defendant picked her up in a taxi and took her to his home in Rotherham before subjecting her to “nasty, violent sex”.

I’m not the sort of person that would intentionally leave any mark on any person so bad

Rowan Horrocks

On Thursday Horrocks told jurors that all sexual activity between the two was consensual and that the woman “seemed fine” and “a bit merry”.

He said the bruising to her chest, neck and breasts was caused by him giving her “love bites” but denied that he “bit her very hard, repeatedly” when asked by Ms Batts.

“At the time she didn’t complain that it was painful at all,” he said.

Horrocks told the court the bruises on pictures shown to the jury “do look bad” but said: “At the time she was enjoying (the love bites) and consenting to them.”

He added: “It feels quite frustrating that I’ve managed to leave them and they look so bad – I’m not the sort of person that would intentionally leave any mark on any person so bad.”

Horrocks told the court the woman “didn’t tell me to get off” when he was pulling her hair.

Asked whether that was because she was “so drunk”, he replied: “No, not at all, because she wasn’t so drunk.”

Asked by Ms Batts if he liked hurting his partner during sex, Horrocks said: “Not necessarily, no.”

Horrocks, who denies two counts of rape, was suspended by South Yorkshire Police and internal misconduct proceedings are also under way.

The trial continues.