Ayrshire policeman to stand trial charged with rape of women

A police officer is to stand trial charged with raping two women '“ including allegedly attacking one while in his uniform.

Pettigrew faced the accusations during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin/JP

Blair Pettigrew, 34, yesterday faced the accusations during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow. The indictment spans between 2005 and 2015.

It is claimed Pettigrew, of Ardrossan, raped a woman at a house in East Ayrshire. The accusation – said to have occurred between August 2013 and April 2015 – states it took place while he was “in police uniform”.

The charge includes claims he threatened to expose details of the woman’s “private life” and for officers to search her parents’ home if she did not agree to sexual activity.

Prosecutors have listed an alternative accusation of sexually coercing her.

A separate charge claims Pettigrew raped the same woman – this time in 2015 and again while in his police outfit.

He faces other claims against her including sexual assault.

The indictment also alleges Pettigrew raped a second woman between 2006 and 2007 in Glasgow.

It is claimed that he told her or caused her to believe that if she did not carry out a sex act he “would take her into police custody”.

Pettgrew is further alleged to have indecently assaulted a third woman in Glasgow between 2005 and 2008.

Prosecutors also claim he did “communicate indecently” with a fourth female “in person” and “by means of telephone calls and police radio”.

He is then said to have accessed the Scottish Intelligence Database to access information on a number of women.

Pettigrew, of Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, today/yesterday denied the charges.

His QC Frances McMenamin described the case as “extensive”.

Judge Lord Beckett set a trial to begin in January. in Edinburgh. The case could last up to four weeks.