Edinburgh crime: Police Scotland officer Johnathan Dunlop sexually assaulted friend at his flat, court told

A police officer sexually assaulted a friend when she stayed over at his Edinburgh flat, a court was told on Thursday.

PC Johnathan Dunlop is alleged to have attacked the woman when she returned to his home following a night out socialising with pals. Dunlop, 32, is said to have groped the woman’s breasts and pulled down her jeans and underwear before pushing her onto a sofa bed in December last year.

The alleged victim broke down in the dock claiming Dunlop had attacked her when she gave evidence during a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday. The woman, who said she has been friends with the Police Scotland constable for several years, told the court she had been out in Edinburgh city centre before returning to Dunlop’s former home at the capital’s Bonnington area.

The woman said Dunlop had made up a sofa bed for her to sleep on and when she returned from using the toilet he had pounced on her. She said: “Johnny was in the living room when I came back from the bathroom. He came over and lifted up my top and my boobs were exposed. He was standing directly in front of me. He looked at me and then put both hands on my breasts. I didn’t really know what was going on.”

Prosecutor Xander van der Scheer asked the woman: “How would you characterise the touching?” She replied: “Groping.”

She added: “After this he took off my trousers. I was standing. He was standing. He had his hands on my hips and pulled them down. All I remember is that my pants are coming off and I thought ‘why are my pants coming off?’”

The fiscal depute asked if the woman had consented to any of the alleged sexual activity and she replied “no, not at all”. The alleged victim told the court after pulling down her jeans and underwear the police officer had then pushed down onto the sofa bed.

She said she was “frozen” during the incident and that “the next thing I remember I was lying on the bed”. She said: “I don’t really know how I got there or if I was conscious or not. When I was lying on the bed I was completely naked. He was standing in between my knees. He was just standing there and that is when the alarm bells went off.”

The woman said Dunlop later “kept apologising” to her for carrying out the alleged sex attack and that she had phoned friends before contacting the police to report the incident. She added she had felt “disgust and revulsion” at the alleged assault and had been sick into a saucepan following the incident.

Dunlop, now of Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, denies two charges of sexual assault in 2018 and 2022 and one offence of intending to cause a woman to be present while a third party was engaged in sexual activity in 2018. The trial in front of Sheriff Julius Komorowski has been part-heard due to a lack of court time and adjourned to December. Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.