A WOMAN police officer has denied trying to cover up for her fiancé after he sexually abused young air cadets and threatened to commit suicide at a Dartmoor beauty spot in November 2011.

Sarah Cohen of Lifton told a jury at Exeter Crown Court she had not tried to talk the parents of the 14-year-old abuse victim out of reporting the assault by her partner, James Reading.

She also denied trying to prevent Reading being arrested after he went to Meldon Dam armed with a knife and threatened to harm himself.

Cohen, aged 37, was the honorary flight lieutenant in charge of an air cadet squadron in Devon where Reading, also aged 37, was sergeant.

Cohen, who was based at Launceston at the time and has since worked at Crownhill and Bodmin, is on trial accused of two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The prosecution say both offences arose from the consequences of an incident at an unofficial party at the ATC headquarters at which Reading got drunk and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.

He was interrupted by other cadets who threw him out in the middle of the night. He drove Cohen's car to Meldon, crashing it on the way, then rang her in a distressed state.

She was on duty at Launceston and went to Meldon, outside her normal patrol area, with another officer, without informing the police control room.

Other officers became involved because Reading made a 999 call while they were on their way to the dam and the other officer pressed an emergency button on her phone to call for urgent back-up after seeing Reading with a hunting knife.

The allegations of sexual assault were not made until the next day, when the 14-year-old girl texted a male cadet to tell him what happened.

That cadet showed the texts to Cohen, who called in the girl's father and made him aware of the allegations.

The prosecution allege she went to visit him and his wife later that night and tried to dissuade them from making a formal complaint to the police about Reading's assault on their daughter.

The jurywas told that Reading was subsequently found guilty of this offence and is currently serving a jail sentence.

Cohen said she had been in a relationship with Reading for six years. By November 2011 they had been engaged for a year and he had been living at her home for about 18 months.

She said: 'It was a very difficult relationship. He was a very intense individual and difficult to deal with. It was hard work trying to do so and I did not like his drinking. I was always concerned about getting calls saying to pick him up.

'It is hard to explain why I stayed with him, to someone who has not been in that position. I felt trapped and I felt responsible for him. Looking back, I realise I was manipulated by him.

'I went to Meldon to try to sort it out before it escalated. I did not notify comms. We don't have to notify them every time we leave the station.

'I thought I would just whizz up there and back in no time at all. If I told the control room I would have been stopped from attending and it would have escalated. I did not think either of us were in any danger.'

She said she had not made the decision to detain Reading under the Mental Health Act rather than arrest him for having a knife or possible drink driving. She said that was done by her colleague PC Lawson.

At the time she knew nothing of the events at the ATC hut and would have banned the sleepover party if she had learned about it.

Cohen denied trying to influence the parents of the air cadet when she went to see them late the next evening. She said they had already made up their mind to report the assault and she did no more than explain how the police investigation would proceed.

In earlier police interviews she said that by the time she visited their home in North Devon she knew they had spoken to Detective Superintendent Michelle Slevin, who is a family friend.

The father had also texted her saying they had decided to report the assault on their daughter, so her visit was not intended to stop them doing so or protect Reading.

The trial continues.