was "no shrinking violet'', the accused's lawyer claimed yesterday.

And Richard Hector QC said P.c. A, who has now quit the Police, was herself someone who would "sexually harass and assault other Police officers''.

Mr. Hector asked the chairman of the sex case tribunal if he could introduce Police officers as witnesses who would testify about the alleged victim's sexual confidence.

He said he wanted to show that the complainant, 26, had not suffered as badly as she claimed she had from the incident on September 11, 1996.

The lawyer even claimed he would show that she "offered to play with'' her accused attacker during the incident.

Board of Inquiry chairman Tim Marshall will rule today on whether the evidence can be admitted. Neither the woman nor the male officer can be named.

The suspected Policeman, P.c. B, is said to have forced a kiss on the woman officer in his office at Somerset Police station.

The alleged victim said he also rubbed his own private parts, telling her how he wanted her.

She also said she quit the Police more than a year later, frustrated that an internal Police inquiry and a prosecution had failed.

The woman added that she was deeply affected by the incident, saying it brought back memories of a sex attack on her as a child.

But Mr. Hector told the hearing, convened by the Human Rights Commission, that he would show the alleged victim in an entirely different light.

"Our intention is to show that this young lady is no shrinking violet,'' he said.

"...Our intention is to show that this young lady is very confident in her sexuality -- to the extent where she could herself sexually harass and assault other Police officers in that same situation.

"The evidence will show that she offered to play with him and he didn't accept the invitation.

"She went to his office shortly after and said to him words to the effect: `I forgot, you only like women with round backsides'.

"This lady, quite apart from being the timid kind of person she might be expected to be if she's assaulted by a Police officer in this manner, accepted it for 15 minutes. She's a rough type of person who would punch you if you touched her anywhere she didn't like.'' Mr. Hector said he had witnesses who had seen her "hugging'' and "rubbing'' male officers, he said, "and touching their behinds in and out of the Police station''.

He added: "We are not saying that she's promiscuous. We're not saying that she's of general bad character.

"We are saying that in this particular case, did this incident occur in the way in which the complainant said it did? "We are saying that what we know about her is such that you would have difficulty believing what she said in her evidence. We are saying she's comfortable in certain settings.'' Clare Hatcher, representing the alleged victim, said legal precedents showed the evidence should not be admitted.

She claimed the evidence was dated and it was unfair to introduce witnesses testifying against her client's "sexual nature''.

Ms Hatcher argued that it might even make some victims wary of reporting cases to the Human Rights Commission.

She added: "If it's true that there was a lot of sexual banter and friendly behaviour including hugging or comments, that cannot be considered to be relevant to the allegations about the incident on September 11.'' Ms Hatcher had earlier asked her client about another incident involving P.c.

B a week-and-a-half before the alleged sex assault in the office.

P.c. A said she was standing by the photocopier wearing a wrap-around skirt when P.c. B asked her to "model'' for him, saying he hoped the skirt would come undone.

The case continues.