A HAMPSHIRE police officer sent lewd messages to schoolgirls and molested one in her family home with her parents in the next room, a court has heard.

PC Keith Burgess allegedly begged the teenagers to send him naked selfies while serving as a neighbourhood officer in Southampton.

The married 42-year-old is accused of bombarding three victims, aged between 15 and 17, with sexually explicit WhatsApp messages in 2014 and 2015.

He is on trial at Guildford Crown Court charged with three counts of sexual assault, three of misconduct in public office, a child grooming offence and two child porn offences.

Burgess befriended families in the Newtown area through his community work and allegedly used their trust to get access to their daughters.

He is accused of sexually assaulting one girl, aged 16 at the time, on two occasions at her family home in May 2015.

In one incident he put his hands under her top and shorts in the kitchen while her parents were watching TV in the lounge, the court was told.

He sent her lewd messages and a naked selfie of himself while on holiday and asked her to send one back in return, the jury heard.

He paid another girl, then aged 15, a total of £220 as an allowance and asked her to send naked photos of herself in return.

Burgess also sent explicit messages to a 17-year-old sixth form student and her mother, asking them both to model for him, the court was told.

He begged the teenager to send him selfies as “payment” for him helping her family, the jury heard.

Burgess, who joined the police in 2003, was arrested in May 2015 after one of the victims told her parents what had happened.

When police checked his mobile they found explicit messages he had sent to the two other girls.

Officers also discovered child pornography on his laptop and search terms including “15-year-old girl naked”, the court heard.

Burgess made history in Southampton when he opened the first neighbourhood surgery in one of the city’s mosques.

The officer also set up the drop-in surgery in Abu Bakr Masjid in Argyle Road – where 1,200 Muslims worship – in April 2013 while serving as an officer as a member of the Newtown Safer Neighbourhood Engagement Team.

He became a bobby for the area in March 2013, was based in an office upstairs for a monthly session after the final Friday prayers of the month, for people to discuss crime, security and community matters in confidence.

The trial continues.