Jury considering verdict against police officer accused of sexual offences

Content warning: This story contains details of sexual assault allegations. If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.

THE JURY has retired to consider its verdicts against a police officer accused of multiple sex offences in Shetland.

Carmichael John Williamson, known as John, faces four charges said to have been committed between 2014 and 2022 in the isles.

He is accused of raping an adult woman on two occasions in 2020 and 2022, of raping a teenage girl on an occasion between April 2014 and October 2015, and of having underage sex with her in 2014.

Williamson, of Burra, has denied all the charges.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard this week that the 32-year old is a police constable with more than 10 years service and is currently suspended.

Williamson originally faced a further five charges, but they were withdrawn by the Crown and he was formally acquitted of them.

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Prosecutor David Dickson KC said in his closing address that jurors should find the two women to be credible and reliable witnesses, and to convict Williamson of the four charges that remain before them.

Dickson said it was the rape charges and allegation of underage sex that had brought the case to the High Court.

He argued that the evidence demonstrated that there was an underlying course of criminal conduct on the part of Williamson.

The High Court heard this week from both women. The adult woman said she had been too intoxicated to consent to sex with Williamson after a wedding in 2022.

The second woman said that Williamson had begun having sex with her when she was just 15 in 2014, and that on one occasion he had carried out an “extremely painful” sex act on her without her consent.

David Nicolson KC, defending Williamson, told jurors: “My primary submission is you should accept his evidence and you should acquit him.”

Copy by Dave Finlay of Edinburgh Courts Press Services