A betting shop worker has told how she had sex with a married policeman in his marked patrol car while he was on duty.

Zoe Barham, from Gravesend, was allegedly texted by PC Alan King, from Hoo, after he had taken a statement from her following an incident he was investigating.

The young woman, who worked for Betfred in Gravesend, told a court she embarked on an affair with the 48-year-old unaware he was married.

King is accused of:

• Giving her cannabis he seized after a man had been stabbed
• Having sex with her in various public places in his police car
• Allowing her to use his vehicle's police computer
• Using the computer himself to check on his lover

He has denied three charges of misconduct in office, perverting the course of justice and supplying drugs.

Ms Barham, who said she was unaware her lover was married when they began their affair, told a jury: "He promised me everything. He told me he loved me and I believed him at the time."

He was a Kent Police constable based at the North Kent headquarters in Northfleet when he met Ms Barham during an investigation in 2012, it was claimed.

Rebecca Fairbairn, prosecuting, told Canterbury Crown Court that after giving her statement – which also included her phone number – Ms Barham was asked if she was working the next Saturday.

She later received an unsolicited text message from the officer's police mobile phone, the court heard.

The pair then began a relationship in which the uniformed officer would frequent the betting shop – until he was given a warning by a superior officer, it was claimed.

"We met in Forge Lane in Gravesend and he took me back to his home," said Ms Barham.

"He promised me everything. He told me he loved me and I believed him at the time..." - Zoe Barham at Canterbury Crown Court

She was not aware of his marriage, but suspicions had eventually grown. She said they regularly met either in Forge Lane or at the Gala Bingo car park in Dartford.

On several occasions he took her to an alley in Barr Road where they had sexual intercourse in his police car, she claimed.

"Mr King picked me up in his police car and took me there and he was in uniform," she told the jury. "I went there because I was in a relationship with him."

She also claimed King allowed her to input information into the vehicle's police computer.

Ms Barham told the court she had used cannabis and, in 2012, King asked if she needed any and she agreed.

The prosecution has alleged the police officer had seized the drugs during an investigation into a man who had been stabbed in the neck in the town.

Ms Fairbairn claimed King, of Pankhurst Road, was the first officer on the scene and took possession of a bag of cannabis before taking the victim to hospital.

It was then he is alleged to have told Martin Reid that he would drop all charges if he could keep the illegal drugs.

The prosecution also claim the officer had accessed a Kent Police crime database, used to store sensitive information on victims, to find out details about his lover.

The affair apparently ended when the two were arrested in relation to an alleged fraud, although no charges were brought against either of them.

Ms Fairbairn added: "Alan King had a duty as a police officer to act beyond reproach. However, we say he used a telephone number given as part of a police investigation and used it just because he was attracted to this woman.

"He had an obligation to respond to emergencies and calls from the public, that's what he is there to do.

"But we say that instead of doing that he was visiting his girlfriend and having sex and, on occasions, doing it in public."

The trial continues.