A POLICE officer accused of raping vulnerable women denied all the allegations against him at court yesterday.

PC Stephen Mitchell, a 43-year-old Northumbria Police officer from Glasgow, told Newcastle Crown Court there was “no truth whatsoever” he had coerced women he had arrested into sex.

The court heard PC Mitchell would promise to “do favours” for the women in custody and would then demand sexual favours in return.

He was arrested after one of 16 women he is alleged to have assaulted contacted the police.

He denies five counts of rape, six indecent assaults and 15 counts of misconduct in a public office.

Speaking from the witness box, he made a series of denials as he was led through the allegations by his barrister, Toby Hedworth QC.

Asked, are the allegations true by Mr Hedworth, he replied: “No, not whatsoever.”

Mr Hedworth said: “Did you ever behave inappropriately with women you had arrested?” He replied: “No.”

He said it had been in his interests to be as friendly as possible to the women as he would be the interviewing officer, but insisted that was as far as it went.

He told the court he remembered clearly many of the arrests.

And he said it was impossible for him to have carried out one of the alleged assaults because he was 160 miles away in Glasgow.

Mr Hedworth asked him about an assault he is alleged to have committed against a woman while in his police car parked in fields at Burdon, on the outskirts of Sunderland, on August 13, 2001.

He asked whether there was a reason PC Mitchell remembered the date.

His voice faltering, the officer said: “Yes. My Dad was attacked on July 30, 2001, by somebody and subsequently died on August 10, 2001.”

Mr Hedworth said: “Had your father in fact been murdered?

PC Mitchell said: “Yes. And from the 9th to the 16th of August I was in Glasgow.’’ Mr Hedworth said: “Is there any truth in the suggestion that there was sexual impropriety taking place?”

PC Mitchell replied: “No, none whatsoever.”

The court heard PC Mitchell admitted failing to meet the standards required of a police officer at a Northumbria Police conduct hearing on September 17, 2007.

The officer, who was divorced in 2005, had called at the home of a woman he had met while on duty, for sex.

The trial, which is entering its fourth week, continues.