Policeman to face trial on grope charge

A police officer was ordered to stand trial today accused of groping a woman in the street.

Metropolitan Constable Marc Pullen is said to have attacked the Polish national in an alleyway near a shopping centre in Shepherds Bush, west London, on December 21 last year.

London's Southwark Crown Court heard that she was with two friends when he allegedly targeted her.

The 37-year-old, who was appearing at a short plea and case management hearing, pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC told the officer, who is based in Hammersmith and Fulham, that his three-day trial would start on March 8 next year before Judge John Price.

He added that Pullen - whose address was given at an earlier Magistrates' Court hearing as care of Reynolds Dawson solicitors, of Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush - could remain on bail in the meantime.