A POLICE officer accused of raping vulnerable women pestered a heroin addict to go out with him and telephoned her mother to warn her that her daughters boyfriend was trouble, a court heard today.

PC Stephen Mitchell, a 42-year-old Northumbria Police officer from Glasgow, denies five charges of rape, six indecent assaults and 15 counts of misconduct in a public office.

One of the 16 complainants told Newcastle Crown Court that Mitchell tried to kiss her in an interview room at Pilgrim Street police station, Newcastle, after she was arrested in November 2002.

On another occasion she contacted him for help and told the court he placed his hand on the inside of her upper thigh after they met in his car in Sunderland city centre.

She declined his offer to go somewhere private.

"He was trying to kiss us," she told the jury.

"He didn't need to say much, it was obvious.

"He is very persuasive. I just managed to go.

"He said I will give you money. I think he gave us £10 or £20."

She said she got out of the car, and nothing else happened.

The complainant, who has since quit heroin, said Mitchell telephoned her mother with a warning about her boyfriend, also a drug addict.

Her mother gave evidence, telling the jury Mitchell rang her twice, and asked if the daughter was still seeing the heroin user.

The trial continues.