A jury has cleared a police officer of attempted rape, sexual assault and causing a woman to engage in sexual activity without her consent.
PC Daniel Julian, 46, was acquitted at Lewes Crown Court this afternoon (Friday 12 April) after a week-long trial. The jury spent more than three and a half hours considering their verdict.
Judge Christine Laing thanked the jury and told Julian that he was free to leave the dock.
The jury had been asked to decide whether the officer had tried to rape a colleague when he went into her hotel room during a training course in Kent in August 2021.
The pair were preparing for the policing operation for the international climate conference known as COP 26 in Glasgow which took place later that year.
Both had been deployed in Brighton at different points during their police service but not at the same time and the pair were based in different areas. The identity of the 34-year-old female officer is protected by law.
She accused Julian, of Church Lane, Bury, Pulborough, of barging his way into her hotel room after a pleasant chat over dinner and pinning her to the floor.
She said that he tried to pull down her jogging bottoms and to peer down her top, scratching her chest in the process.
He admitted kissing his colleague but denied that anything happened without her consent during about 40 minutes in her room in the early hours.
She managed to start recording on her phone and was heard to say no more than 60 times in 16 minutes, asking him to leave about 20 times.
Julian told the jury that she was turned on when he kissed her neck and stroked her hair although when he massaged her, she could be heard saying that it hurt.
In the recording played to the jury the woman said that she wouldn’t cheat on her boyfriend and although she could be heard laughing at times, said that this was nervous laughter.
Julie Whitby, prosecuting, said that Julian’s towel had fallen off at one point, that he was aroused and kept pressing himself against her as he tried to pull her jogging bottoms down.
Miss Whitby said that at another point he offered her his hand to help her up but, as she took it, he moved his hand so that she would touch his penis.
The female officer said she pulled her hand away and fell backwards on her bottom and Miss Whitby added: “She kept saying ‘no’ and ‘please go’ but he wasn’t listening.”
Julian, a former blacksmith, was based at Littlehampton when he went on the training course at the Metropolitan Police Tactical Training Centre, in Gravesend, Kent, in August 2021.
When the claims came to light, he was arrested and suspended from duty.
Nick Wayne, defending, told the jury that Julian had done nothing without the female officer’s consent and read several character references to the jury.
Julian admitted that he had fancied the officer and, even though they were both in relationships, had messaged her asking to spend the night in her bed.
Towards the end of his evidence, while being cross-examined, his voice cracked as he denied sexually assaulting and trying to rape his fellow officer.
Despite being cleared by a jury, Julian, a Sussex Police officer, is expected to face misconduct proceedings at work.
