A TOP police officer should not be judged on his extra-marital affair but on whether or not he set fire to his own car, a court was told yesterday.

The jury in the case of Chief Superintendent Jim Trotman was due to continue discussing its verdict this morning after being sent home last night.

The 45-year-old is accused of setting his Citroen C4 Picasso on fire and laying the blame on the husband of his married mistress before claiming more than £18,000 in an insurance payout.

Trotman, of Abingdon, denies charges of arson, fraud and perverting the course of justice.

Judge Douglas Field advised the jury not to take into account the fact that Trotman had an affair, leaving his wife Charlotte more than a year after meeting his mistress on the Illicit Encounters website.

Judge Field said: “Although this defendant, being married but separated, had an extra-marital affair with a married woman named Karin Gray – you heard that because of the background of the case – you shouldn’t allow any feelings of disapproval about that to affect your judgement.”

Reminding the jury of the facts of the case, Judge Field told them that the fire had taken place on October 20, 2009, close to Mrs Gray’s home in Boars Hill, near Oxford.

Trotman had been to visit his lover while her husband Ian was in Dublin on business.

He told police he had arrived there at 9.45pm, but phone records showed he had not reached the Boars Hill area until about 10.20pm.

The fire was believed to have been started deliberately using petrol and, shortly after, the fire brigade arrived at the scene at 10.44pm.

On the day of the fire Trotman had visited a colleague, Det Supt Ashley Smith, to tell him that both he and Mrs Gray had received emails from two addresses threatening to expose their affair.

In April 2010, the emails were traced to Kai Stephen Reeves, the fiance of a friend of Mrs Gray.

He was never fingerprinted or arrested on suspicion of causing the fire and was only visited by police after Trotman had already been arrested and charged.

During the investigation, Mr Smith and his colleague Det Sgt Nick Burleigh discovered that in the days before the fire, Trotman had checked other arsons and crimes in the Boars Hill area.

He had also visited several websites selling Audi cars and, when the insurance money arrived, bought an Audi A4 cabriolet.

During the trial at Swindon Crown Court, the jury heard from several character witnesses, who said Trotman had enjoyed a successful career both with Thames Valley Police and the Royal Marines.

Judge Field told the jury they should bear this in mind.

He said: “He had 18 years’ service in the police and is of good character with no previous convictions.

“Good character cannot, by itself, provide a defence, but it is evidence that you should take into account in his favour.”

Judge Field told the jury: “You have to decide in this trial whether this defendant, a highly regarded and senior police officer with a glittering career ahead of him, set fire to that Citroen Picasso motor car on the night of October 20, 2009, and the decision you reach with that single issue dictates whether he is guilty or not guilty.”

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