A POLICE officer tried to have sex with victims of crime before deleting messages off his phone to cover his tracks.

Rhett Wilson, 27, was a serving officer with West Mercia Police when he attempted to strike up sexual relationships with three women he had been called out to help.

A court heard Wilson, of Tidworth, Wiltshire, was rumbled last March when one of the victim's boyfriends told police that an officer had been sending his girlfriend inappropriate messages.

Detectives then found photographs of Wilson on her phone - including one image where he was wearing his police uniform.

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Wilson then tried to delete incriminating messages and call logs from his mobile phone after Googling how to restore it to factory settings, jurors were told.

He previously admitted corruption charges back in January for attempting to engage in sexual relationships with female crime victims.

Yesterday (Monday) he went on trial at Worcester Crown Court accused of perverting the course of public justice by deleting the data on his phone.

Wilson claimed he often cleared his call log and it was 'something he did' but the court heard he had only deleted messages from the three female complainants.

Prosecutor Jennifer Josephs said: "The three ladies had each made a report to the police in late 2019.

"For each, the defendant was the police officer sent to assist. The only reason he met them is because he was a police officer.

"Matters came to a head in March 2020. The third lady had a boyfriend who was arrested on an unrelated matter.

"But that boyfriend complained to the police that there was a police officer who was sending his girlfriend inappropriate photos.

"It became apparent that the person he was talking about was the defendant Rhett Wilson.

"She didn’t make a formal statement to investigators but she did allow them to examine her phone.

"They found photographs of the defendant on her phone. It included a photo where he appeared to be in his police uniform.

"She phoned Rhett Wilson. You may conclude that was telling him that the police were looking into him.

"The very next day the police did go and arrest the defendant. When they looked at his phone there were no messages from the complainant, they’d all been deleted.

"As had the call logs from March 9 when she phoned him to tell him the police were looking into him. He deleted those calls from his phone.

"What you know is that message is sent and he deleted it."

The court heard specialists were able to search his phone where they found deleted communications with three female victims of crime.

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Addressing the jury, she added: "The fact he didn’t succeed is irrelevant.

"If you conclude that his deletion of material from his phone was in order to frustrate the investigation into him, to interfere with the course of justice, then he is guilty."

The trial continues today (Tuesday).