A female Devon and Cornwall Police officer has denied exercising controlling behaviour over another woman during a relationship.

PC Jess Smith, aged 52, from Hayle, Cornwall, pleaded not guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour and to sending electronic communications with the intention of causing distress or anxiety.

The coercive behaviour charge specifies that Smith allegedly assaulted the other woman between May 2021 and May 2022. She is also alleged to have verbally abused her, controlled who she made friends with and how she socialised, accused her of flirting and threatened to commit suicide if she ended the relationship.

She is alleged to have sent the electronic communications to the same woman between the same dates which "conveyed messages which were indecent or grossly offensive to the purpose of causing or anxiety".

Smith appeared before Judge James Townsend at Exeter Crown Court and was released on bail. The judge set a timetable for the progress of the case leading up to a week-long trial starting on June 10, 2024.

The defendant gave her address at an earlier hearing as Pynes Hill, Exeter, which is the office of the local Police Federation.

Miss Victoria Bastock, for the prosecution, and Mr Joss Ticehurst, for Smith, said a large amount of background material still needs to be processed and uploaded.

Devon and Cornwall Police previously confirmed Smith has been suspended from duty since her arrest in August 2022.