Police officer denies rape

A police officer who served as an officer in Watford recently pleaded not guilty to the rape of a teenage girl. PC Leigh Brightman, from Hitchin, appeared at the Old Bailey on April 24 for a plea and case management hearing. The 36-year-old denied all charges, including one count of rape of a girl aged between 13 and 15, and four counts of misconduct in a public office between April 2009 and June 2014. He is also charged with making and possessing indecent images of a child. His trial at the Old Bailey is scheduled to start on November 2. PC Brightman – who also served as an officer in Rickmansworth and north Hertfordshire – was arrested in August and is currently suspended from the Hertfordshire Constabulary.