Swingers’ club link to ‘firebug police love rat’

A SWINGERS’ club is at the centre of an alleged arson attack involving a married police chief and his lover, a jury has heard.

Chief Superintendent James Trotman 45 is accused of setting fire to his own car Chief Superintendent James Trotman, 45, is accused of setting fire to his own car

Chief Superintendent James Trotman, 45, is accused of setting fire to his own car at the home of his mistress Karin Gray in October 2009.

He then allegedly hinted that Mrs Gray’s lawyer husband Ian might have started the fire.

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Trotman had begun receiving emails threatening to tip off Mr Gray about their tryst. That evening, it is alleged Trotman torched his Citroen C4 Picasso outside Mrs Gray’s house in Boar’s Hill, Oxford.

The messages were sent from an email address that wrongly suggested they could be from Mr Gray. The sender said he got Trotman’s details from Boar’s Hill swingers’ association, whose members had heard rumours Trotman had got Mrs Gray pregnant.

The emails warned the police chief to stay away, Swindon Crown Court was told on Friday. When Trotman started receiving messages, he confided to Detective Superintendent Ashley Smith about his affair.

John Beggs, defending, accused Mr Smith of failing to investigate the fire properly. The court was told Mr Smith, who retired in June 2010, failed to carry out a full search.

A petrol can that may have been used to start the fire was not recovered until 12 days after the blaze.

But Mr Smith claimed he did not know about the can until Trotman told him it had been in the car. The emails were later traced to Kai Reeves, who was eliminated from the inquiry despite concerns that the emailer might be behind the fire.

Questioning Mr Smith, Mr Beggs said: “You eliminated him from inquiries several weeks after you had already charged Mr Trotman. You were feeling great because you could still go out and retire thinking ‘I have got the scalp of a senior officer’.”

Father-of-two Trotman, estranged from his wife Charlotte and still with Mrs Gray, denies arson and fraud.

The trial continues.

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