ALLEGED victims of a retired police chief accused of rape, stalking and other offences were at "extreme risk" of "serious injury" after he was arrested, a court heard.
Former Humberside Police chief superintendent Colin Andrews is on trial accused of rape, stalking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, witness intimidation, harassment, and two counts of common assault.
The 58-year-old denies all the offences.
Former detective chief inspector Mark Oliver, who retired from the force on September 23, led the investigation into Mr Andrews until passing it on to Durham Police when the rape allegation was made.
Mr Oliver was head of the anti-corruption unit at Humberside Police when Mr Andrews was first arrested, on suspicion of an assault in Park Grove, west Hull, on August 20 last year.
He was asked about bail restrictions later imposed on Mr Andrews, which included exclusions from areas of west Hull and which his defence team claimed were a "trap" if he attempted to watch his beloved Hull City at the KC Stadium.
Tania Griffiths QC, defending, asked Mr Oliver: "Did you suggest that those zones would be appropriate?"
"No," said Mr Oliver. "I was in possession of information that I believed all the victims were at extreme risk from Colin Andrews, and I expressed the fact that they needed to be protected and they needed to be protected from Colin Andrews carrying out serious injury towards them, and bail restrictions, if indeed it was bail and not custody, should be appropriate to mitigate the risk."
Miss Griffiths has suggested Mr Oliver bore a grudge against his former colleague after he criticised his investigation technique and his treatment of a disabled employee, which Mr Oliver denied.
"You don't like Colin Andrews, do you?" asked Miss Griffiths.
"Now or at the time of the offences?" asked Mr Oliver.
"Both," said Miss Griffiths.
Mr Oliver said: "I had no personal views at the time of the investigation of these offences.
"Now, I have clearly formed views of the criminality that he has been involved in. I have an entirely different view now.
"My job as an investigator was to keep an impartial mind. I think the actions I have taken were fair, impartial.
"I have chosen to put aside any thoughts about 'like'.
"My job is to collect the evidence. As to 'like' before these incidents, I have no thoughts either way."
Mr Oliver said chief officers had asked him whether he had an "axe to grind" in respect of Mr Andrews, who had said he had no confidence in Mr Oliver leading the inquiry.
Mr Oliver said:"I still believe that at the time of the start of the investigation I was the right person with the right skills, and impartial, to fairly investigate this, to prove or disprove."
The rape and stalking complainants, and a prosecution witness who worked for a neighbouring force, cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Mr Oliver was asked about a call he had taken from another witness, Detective Inspector Joanne Roe, who claimed she had been harassed by unwanted texts and phone calls from Mr Andrews.
Asked by Owen Edwards, prosecuting, to describe her attitude, Mr Oliver said: "She was outraged.
"She felt that she couldn't do anything because of his links with other senior officers.
"She felt it would ruin her career, and that's why she hadn't been able to do anything.
"She felt she had been blackmailed. He'd said he was going to spread rumours about her if she pursued the complaint."
The trial continues.
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
• Crime news for Hull and East Yorkshire
