Former sergeant Frank Partridge, 49, is also accused of accepting tickets to see heavy metal band Metallica, a trip to watch Manchester United, and money towards the renovation of his home.

Between 2013 and 2015, Partridge was responsible for consulting with the Westminster local authority over applications for licensed premises and supervising venues to make sure they were following the rules, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Philip Evans KC said that Partridge, who left the Met in 2016, had formed an "unprofessional and inappropriately close relationship" with a small group of people linked to clubs and security firms in the area.

Mr Evans told a jury on Thursday: "Those relationships directly benefited Frank Partridge financially and the individuals because they had someone with Frank Partridge's powers in their pocket.

"The evidence you will hear is that Frank Partridge received - and indeed there is no dispute that he did receive - substantial financial or other items from his co-defendants... Those items were, the prosecution says, bribes.

"And the prosecution says there can be no sensible explanation for these defendants having paid or having given Frank Partridge such advantages or bribes, bearing in mind he was a police officer with direct responsibility for policing their business activities or the business activities of someone very close to them.

"There's no sensible explanation other than they were paid to provide a reward to Frank Partridge for having done something improper for them in the past or to reward him so that he would do something improper for them in the future."

'Corrupt practices'

Mr Evans said that Partridge previously worked in the Met's Clubs and Vice unit, managing covert licensing officers - experience that had "enabled him to cover at least some of the tracks he might otherwise have left from the corrupt practices he engaged in".

Partridge, of Wing, Buckinghamshire, has admitted three counts of bribery but pleaded not guilty to a further eight counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and five counts of bribery.

Among the counts he denies are those alleging he accepted the services of a professional escort and another charge involving a Manchester United shirt signed by then player Wayne Rooney.

Partridge is on trial with Ryan Bishti, of Exhibition Road, South Kensington, west London, his mother Pamela Bishti, 67, Anna Ginandes, 45, Terry Neil, 56, Soraya Henderson, 57, Eamonn Mulholland, 55, who is linked to the Beat nightclub, and a man who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Bishti; his mother, of Outram Road, Croydon, south London; Ginandes, of Fellows Road, Camden, north London; Neil, of Kimbers Drive, Slough, Berkshire; Henderson, of Glenmore Close, Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; Mulholland, of Florence Street, Islington, north London; and the eighth defendant each deny two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery.

The 12-week trial continues on Friday.