A Metropolitan Police officer raped a woman, having earlier flashed his warrant card at her in a nightclub, nearly 20 years ago, a court has heard.

Stephen Kyere, 57, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of having sex with the woman without her consent after going back to her home after a night out on April 12 2004.

The case was reopened after the alleged victim wrote to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 2018 about the “injustice” she still felt years after the case was closed.

Kyere was eventually identified as a suspect from CCTV images at the club and his DNA matched to a sample of semen on the woman’s duvet, the Old Bailey heard.

The defendant, who is now retired from the Metropolitan Police, was charged with rape and indecent assault.

Stephen Kyere court case
Retired Metropolitan police officer Stephen Kyere arriving at the Old Bailey, central London (Yui Mok/PA)

Opening his trial on Monday, prosecutor Kate Blumgart told how the defendant was aged 38 when he met the woman at the Oceana nightclub in Kingston-upon-Thames in south London while off duty.

Ms Blumgart said: “The (woman) was approached by the defendant who started talking to her.

“During the evening the defendant showed her a Metropolitan Police warrant card.

“She described it as a black wallet with a picture of the suspect on one side and a crest on the other. She believed the first name on the warrant card was Stephen.

“She spoke to him as her boyfriend at the time wanted to join the police force. She danced with him – but not close to him.”

At the end of the evening, the woman took a cab home with a female companion, Kyere and another man, the court was told.

Ms Blumgart said the woman was tired and went to bed, having drunk a lot of alcohol mixed with slimming pills on an empty stomach.

She was “drifting in an out of sleep” when the defendant allegedly climbed over her in bed.

He allegedly went on to stoke her breasts and engaged in sex with her as she cried and said “please go” and “stop”.

Ms Blumgart said: “She was unable to recall how her clothing was removed. She was very shocked and crying.

“She jumped out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown and ran out of the room.”

She went into the bathroom and sat against the door hugging her knees as the defendant asked “what’s wrong” from the other side.

He allegedly told her that he did not understand after she repeatedly told him to go away.

Later in the kitchen, she screamed at him to leave when he appeared dressed in the doorway, jurors were told.

Initially, the woman did not want to report what happened but decided to go to the police after talking to a friend.

Police arrived at her home early the next morning and the woman was examined by a doctor.

She was found to have a graze on her knee and right foot but no injuries that would confirm or refute the sexual allegation.

CCTV from the nightclub was provided to police and the woman gave a formal statement, jurors were told.

In August 2004, the woman received a call from police to say a suspect was due to be arrested but she heard no more and did not pursue it as she wanted to “get on with her life”, Ms Blumgart said.

A full DNA profile had been obtained from a semen stain on the woman’s duvet but no match was found on the national database, the court heard.

The jury was told the case was closed 2006 with no suspect identified.

Ms Blumgart said: “No further avenues were fully explored. The investigation in 2004 was ended abruptly and has been the subject of a separate investigation by the Department of Professional Standards.

“What the rights and wrongs of the closure of the investigation at that point, it was not the fault of either (the woman) or indeed this defendant.”

In 2017, the woman, who is now in her early 40s, had her first child and developed post-natal depression.

Ms Blumgart said: “This triggered her to write a letter to the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police on the 14th August 2018 explaining the injustice that she felt about the investigation.”

The investigation was reopened although the woman’s 999 call, CCTV footage from the club and the original recorded account were lost, the court heard.

What remained of the original probe were still images from the CCTV.

Police obtained a list of all black ethnic minority officers serving in the Met at the time named Stephen and compared their pictures with the CCTV.

From that comparison, officers concluding Kyere looked similar, jurors were told.

A review of his shifts found he was off duty on the night of the alleged rape and was living about 45 minutes away from Kingston.

In January 2020, he was invited to an interview under caution and provided a prepared statement saying he never had non-consensual sex.

His DNA was tested and matched to the sample on the woman’s duvet.

Kyere said in a further statement that he remembered the incident.

Ms Blumgart said: “He said that the sexual intercourse was consensual and that he had formed the view that she was attracted to him during the course of the evening.”

Kyere, from Ashford in Surrey, denies the charges against him and the Old Bailey trial continues.