Timothy Brehmer was a “man-whore womaniser” who used grooming techniques to exert “coercive and controlling behaviour” over women.

The police constable had at least two affairs while married to his wife, Martha, also a police officer.

But his cheating ways came to an end when long-term lover Claire Parry revealed to Martha that he had been unfaithful.

Minutes later Mrs Parry suffered fatal injuries at Brehmer’s hands.

Claire Parry
Brehmer’s victim Claire Parry (Dorset Police/PA)

Mrs Parry, a nurse and mother of two who was also married to a police officer, had become enraged with Brehmer after she found out that he had had a relationship with fellow police officer Kate Rhodes at the same time he was seeing her.

Giving evidence at Salisbury Crown Court, Ms Rhodes, a detective constable, said Brehmer used “grooming” techniques to exert “coercive and controlling behaviour” over women.

She said: “Tim had some sort of hold over me, that’s the only way I can describe it.”

She said that she had a short relationship with him in the autumn of 2011, but broke it off when she found out he was married.

Describing Brehmer, who mentored her when she was starting out in the Dorset force as a PCSO, Ms Rhodes said: “The first thing that struck me about Tim was how personable he was in dealing with members of the public. He was charming, personable and very charismatic.”

She explained how she was contacted on Facebook Messenger by Mrs Parry, who used a false profile in the name of Louisa Morgan, in the days before her death.

Ms Rhodes described how they discussed “womaniser” Brehmer and how he had conducted affairs while married.

Ms Rhodes described him as “Mr Smooth” and wrote: “He scooped me up, put me on a total pedestal then broke me down again.”

Mrs Parry, who had an affair for more than 10 years with the defendant, replied: “He is a total shit. He promised me the world then let me down.”

She added: “I was sucked in.”

Mrs Parry also revealed in the messages that she had reported Brehmer for moonlighting as an odd-job man and was going to inform his wife that he was having an affair.

She wrote: “I am embarking on a slow and prolonged downfall of Mr Man-whore Brehmer.”

She also wrote: “I want to point out to Martha what a nasty person she is married to.

“My marriage has fallen apart as a result of him so I don’t see how he should just get away with it.

“I hate the fact Tim is getting away with destroying women’s self-esteem and lives.”

Ms Rhodes told the court she had kept in “sporadic” contact with Brehmer until 2017 when he sent her a message which described her as a “dirty bitch”.

She said this upset her and added: “I felt just like a piece of meat.”

In court, Brehmer admitted that he was a “well-practised liar” and described himself as a “devious bastard”.

The father-of-one also said that his affair was a “little bubble of niceness” and added: “We didn’t have to worry about the domestic things at home. You could be all of your good things, not your bad things, none of your vulnerabilities.

“It was a suspended state of your best self. It was an affair, that’s what you have an affair for.”

Brehmer had denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.