Shetland police officer on trial for rape and sexual assault

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 16:32 · Archive

A 32-year-old Shetland police officer is on trial at Edinburgh's High Court facing multiple rape and sexual assault charges, which he denies.

Carmichael John Williamson, 32, from Shetland, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh facing multiple rape and sexual assault charges, which he denies. The allegations span incidents from 2014 to 2022 and involve an adult woman and a teenage girl.

On the trial's first day, a prosecution witness testified that she was too intoxicated to give consent to sex with Williamson and said she had entered a freeze response during another incident. Williamson is accused of assaulting and raping the woman in April 2022 at locations in Shetland while she was intoxicated, and of raping her in August 2020. He is also accused of assaulting and raping a teenage girl between 2014 and 2015.

When giving evidence, Williamson denied having any sexual contact with the woman outside a community hall during a celebration in 2022, stating 'None at all.' He also denied having penetrative sex with the girl or using a sex toy on her when she was 15 in 2014. Regarding an allegation that he recorded the teenager performing a sex act on him, Williamson said he had no recollection of recording any sexual encounters and told the court he did not have a tablet computer at the time the recording was allegedly made.

Williamson, who has been a police constable for over 10 years and was previously a special constable, is currently suspended. The trial before judge John Morris KC continues.

How it is being reported

• Police officer accused of sex crimes takes the stand to deny allegations of raping underage girl and adult womanWilliamson, a married man with an infant daughter, has denied a series of charges alleged to have been committed in Shetland between 2014 and 2022.Shetland Times · 13 Oct, 16:05
• Shetland policeman denies rape and underage sex allegationsCarmichael John Williamson, known as John Williamson, of Burra, Shetland, has gone on trial accused of a series of sexual offences.Press and Journal · 13 Oct, 14:42
• Police officer on trial facing rape and sexual assault chargesCarmichael John Williamson, 32, from Shetland, denies charges at the High Court in Edinburgh.BBC North East Orkney And Shetland · 12 Oct, 16:30

In this story: Carmichael John Williamson · Shetland · High Court in Edinburgh · John Morris KC

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem