Court hears policeman visited ex

A Norfolk police officer charged with fraud rang his ex-girlfriend and went round to her house less than an hour after being advised by police not to contact her.

Simon Hood's ex-girlfriend Suzanne Coates told Norwich Magistrates' Court earlier this week he confessed to her that he pretended his Audi TT was stolen from outside Gorleston Police Station to make a false insurance claim.

Hood, 43, was subsequently arrested and during an interview Det Sgt David Frost informed him that although at that stage Ms Coates was not a material witness he was being advised not to contact her to discuss the case.

Yesterday the jury were read out parts of a subsequent interview in October last year, and heard how Hood, who denies the charge, tried to ring Ms Coates shortly after being warned not to, and even drove past her home.

In interview the Yarmouth officer said: “I just wanted to tell her that I loved her. I didn't want her to worry about things and that I would be fine.”

Hood is alleged to have made false representations to his insurers about the theft of the car between March 12 and May 31 last year.

His co-accused Peter Marsh, 41, of Tillett Close, Ormesby, who owns the Ace Tyre and Exhaust Centre in Suffolk Road, Yarmouth, where parts of the Audi TT were found neatly wrapped in bubble wrap, also denies a charge of fraud.

The court also heard how the police in interview put it to Hood that mobile phone records back up the claim of a conspiracy as they show he spoke to his friend Marsh several times on the day of the theft, including shortly before it was reported and shortly afterwards.

Hood's finances also show that at the time he received the �8,222.77 insurance payout, on March 12 last year, he was �2,588 in the red into his �2,750 overdraft, although he told police that he had no involvement in the theft and could have got more money for his car if he had sold it privately.

The case continues.