A female RAF police officer looked up details of a sex probe into her married parachutist lover’s former boss, a court martial heard.
Corporal Rebecca Ashurst had an affair with parachute instructor Sergeant Sean McCabe, a former member of the RAF’s Falcons parachute display team, the hearing was told.
It is said she used her laptop to access case files, which revealed the sergeant’s friend and former boss was being investigated for two sexual offences.
But, because he felt ‘burdened’ by this information she shared with him, Sgt McCabelater told his Flight Sergeant what he had learnt, which consequently led to her being investigated for breaking military rules.
The hearing was told the pair first met as friends in 2016, the same year Cpl Ashurst joined the RAF, and their affair began a few years later.
In May last year, Sgt McCabe visited RAF Halton, Bucks, where she was based, for an inter-service cricket tournament and paid a visit to her.
They had ‘general chit-chat’ before he asked Cpl Ashurst about his former boss and if he had committed a ‘sexy offence’.
The prosecution alleges that Cpl Ashurst then got her laptop out and used the military police’s computer system to search for details of the case, which she was not involved in as an investigator.
Corporal Rebecca Ashurst, pictured, had the affair with parachute instructor and former RAF Falcon Sergeant Sean McCabe, the hearing was told
Because he felt ‘burdened’ by this information she shared with him, Sgt McCabelater, pictured, told his Flight Sergeant what he had learnt, which consequently led to her to being investigated for breaking military rules
Later that evening Cpl Ashurst sent a selfie of herself in bed to him, prompting him to reply ‘plenty of room for me’.
In another message, a few weeks later, Sgt McCabe said he would ‘get naked and pleasure her’, the court martial was told.
The pair stopped talking not long after the computer incident because of the investigation, but also because Cpl Ashurst ‘felt guilty’ about their friendship because she was in a new relationship.
Cpl Ashurst, who previously did a tour of Cyprus and is a trained sexual offences liaison officer, is charged with one count of unauthorised access to computer material.
Opening the case at Bulford Military Court, Wilts, Major Jon Harris said Sgt McCabe became ‘burdened’ by what Cpl Ashurst told him and discussed it with his boss, sparking the investigation into Cpl Ashurst’s computer use.
He said: ‘The defendant is a service police junior non-commissioned officer, she had been working for the Defence Serious Crime Unit.
‘On the night of the 8 May, Sean McCabe visited Cpl Ashurst at her home, they were friends and had known each other for some years.
‘They sat and chatted, Sgt McCabe asked if she was investigating a friend of his.
‘Cpl Ashurst got out her work laptop, logged into the system and searched for him, she told Sgt McCabe his friend had been investigated for sexual assault.
‘Sgt McCabe asked about a second man, shortly after Sgt McCabe left.
Opening the case at Bulford Military Court, pictured, Wilts, Major Jon Harris said Sgt McCabe became ‘burdened’ by what Cpl Ashurst told him
‘This knowledge became a burden to Sgt McCabe who told his Flight Sergeant what he had learnt about their boss.’
An audit of Cpl Ashurst’s login records showed that she used the system for around ten minutes and looked up three names. The final two searches returned no results.
Giving evidence, Cpl Ashurst said she would describe her relationship with the RAF Falcon parachute jumper as an ‘extra-marital affair’.
She said: ‘I knew Sgt McCabe firstly as a friend but then it became more a few years ago.
‘I would say that me and Sgt McCabe did have an extra-marital affair, we have slept with each other but we are also friends.’
Turning to the events of that night, Cpl Ashurst claimed she had told Sgt McCabe she didn’t know anything about the case and they ‘moved back’ to other topics.
‘We had just a general chit-chat, Sgt McCabe then asked me, with regards to an investigation, he asked me did I know anything about [his former boss],’ Cpl Ashurst continued.
‘I said it wasn’t held by our office, it was like I hadn’t given him enough information, he then asked me if it was a sexy offence.
‘A ‘sexy offence’ would have meant a sexual offence, I said I couldn’t tell him.
‘We then moved back to talking about other things.’
She alleged that she only looked up the case after he left because the ‘curiosity got her brain working’ and she wanted to know why he had asked about the case.
Major Harris suggested that Cpl Ashurst had searched for the files whilst Sgt McCabe was there and told him about the offences to ‘impress’ him with her policing knowledge.
He asked: ‘Were you trying to impress him with your knowledge as a police officer?’ She replied: ‘No.’
The trial continues.