A POLICE officer accused of rape and sexual assault has been unanimously cleared of all charges against him.

Detective Constable Mark Glover, 46, of Carys Close, Penarth, was on trial accused of sexually assaulting a mum and raping her daughter.

DC Glover, who was working for the major crimes unit of South Wales Police in Barry at the time of the allegations, was acquitted by a jury after a seven day trial.

The officer told the jury he was “not a sexual predator” and said he had had consensual sex with the older woman. He denied ever having sex with the daughter and said the woman had fabricated her story to boost her mother’s claim.

He was cleared of three counts of rape and one assault against the daughter and two counts of sexual assault and one assault against the mother.

Earlier in the trial at Cardiff Crown Court Jonathan Rees, defending, had told the court that Glover has been a police officer for 22 years and had an “unblemished” record of service.

He said there is an “absence of any independent evidence to support the accounts of the complainants,” including no DNA evidence or injuries resulting from a sexual assault.

He said the older woman admitted that Glover did not go beyond touching her and explained that he had stopped when she asked him to.

Mr Rees said that one of the alleged rapes of the daughter was said to have taken place in daylight, in a kitchen and by a window into which neighbours could see.

He questioned why, on the occasion of a second allegation, the younger woman did not raise the alarm when she saw him approaching or attempt to lock the door.

Mr Rees said: “She acted as if nothing had happened. Could that be because it hadn’t?”

Addressing why she did not tell anyone initially, Mr Rees said that it was “inconceivable” that she believed police would not take an allegation against a serving officer seriously, as she had claimed.