Police officer cleared of rape charge

A police officer was cleared of the rape and attempted murder of a woman today.

But Sergeant Steven Campbell, 40, a former firearms instructor with Strathclyde Police, pleaded guilty to a minor assault.

The High Court in Glasgow heard he grabbed the woman and threw her against a tractor at a farm in Shotts, Lanarkshire.

Campbell, from Hamilton, admitted the assault between January 2005 and December 2006. He also pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of

ammunition.

Judge Lord Woolman acquitted him of a rape charge after the sergeant entered a plea of not guilty.

The officer, who began his policing career in 1988, will be sentenced next month.

His defence counsel Paul McBride QC said the first offender had 22 years of "unblemished" service with the police.

He told Lord Woolman: "There have been no disciplinary matters either before the police or during his time with them."

It is understood Mr Campbell has not been suspended from his job but has been removed from frontline duties.

A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: "A report will shortly be submitted to the Deputy Chief Constable."

Campbell admitted possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate between January 2000 and October 2008.

He also plead guilty to having prohibited ammunition without the consent of Scottish ministers between the same dates.