A female RAF police officer tried to “impress” her married lover by illicitly looking up the details of a sexual assault investigation, a court martial heard. Cpl Rebecca Ashurst had an extramarital affair with Sean McCabe, a parachute instructor and former RAF Falcon Sergeant, a panel was told. She allegedly used her laptop to access case files he was interested in that revealed his friend, an Air Force officer, was under investigation for two sexual assault offences. But he felt “burdened” by this information and later told his Flight Sergeant what he had learnt, which led to Cpl Ashurst being investigated for breaking military rules. Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard in May last year that Sgt McCabe visited RAF Halton, Bucks, where Cpl Ashurst is based, for an inter-service cricket tournament and paid a visit to her. The hearing was told the pair first met in 2016, the same year Cpl Ashurst joined the RAF, and their affair began a few years later. They had “general chit-chat” before he asked Cpl Ashurst about his friend and if he had committed a “sexy offence”. The prosecution alleges that Cpl Ashurst then got her laptop out and used the military police’s computer system to search for details of the case – which she was not involved in as an investigator. She then allegedly told Sgt McCabe what she had found, confirming his friend was under investigation for alleged sex offences. Later that evening, Cpl Ashurst sent a selfie of herself in bed to him, prompting him to reply “plenty of room for me”. In another message, a few weeks later, Sgt McCabe said he would “get naked and pleasure her”, the court martial was told. The pair stopped talking not long after the computer incident because of the investigation but also because Cpl Ashurst “felt guilty” about their friendship as she was in a new relationship. Cpl Ashurst, who previously did a tour of Cyprus and is a trained sexual offences liaison officer, is charged with one count of unauthorised access to computer material. Opening the case, Maj Jon Harris told how Cpl Ashurst was a service police junior non-commissioned officer working for the Defence Serious Crime Unit. “On the night of the May 8, Sean McCabe visited Cpl Ashurst at her home, they were friends and had known each other for some years. “They sat and chatted, Sgt McCabe asked if she was investigating a friend of his. “Cpl Ashurst got out her work laptop, logged into the system and searched for him, she told Sgt McCabe his friend had been investigated for sexual assault. “Sgt McCabe asked about a second man. Shortly after, Sgt McCabe left. “This knowledge became a burden to Sgt McCabe, who told his Flight Sergeant what he had learnt about their boss.” An audit of Cpl Ashurst’s login records showed she used the system for around 10 minutes and looked up three names. The final two searches returned no results. Extramarital affair Giving evidence, Cpl Ashurst said she would describe her relationship with the RAF Falcons parachute jumper as an “extramarital affair”. She said: “I knew Sgt McCabe firstly as a friend but then it became more a few years ago. “I would say that me and Sgt McCabe did have an extramarital affair, we have slept with each other but we are also friends.” Turning to the events of that night, Cpl Ashurst claimed she had told Sgt McCabe she didn’t know anything about the case and they “moved back” to other topics. “We had just a general chit-chat, Sgt McCabe then asked me, with regards to an investigation, he asked me did I know anything about [his friend],” Cpl Ashurst continued. “I said it wasn’t held by our office, it was like I hadn’t given him enough information, he then asked me if it was a ‘sexy offence’. “A ‘sexy offence’ would have meant a sexual offence, I said I couldn’t tell him. We then moved back to talking about other things.” She alleged that she only looked up the case after he left because the “curiosity got her brain working” and she wanted to know why he had asked about the case. Maj Harris suggested that Cpl Ashurst had searched for the files while Sgt McCabe was there and told him about the offences to “impress” him with her policing knowledge. He asked: “Were you trying to impress him with your knowledge as a police officer?” She replied: “No.” The hearing continues.