Central Scotland Police officer accused of raping women
An officer with Central Scotland Police is to stand trial accused of raping two women.
Stephen Cooperwhite, 35, from Paisley, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
He is alleged to have raped one woman in Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, and the other in Dennyloanhead, Stirlingshire.
Judge Lord Turnbull adjourned the hearing until a trial, which is due to take place in February next year.
The first attack is alleged to have taken place in Benbecula between September and October 2002.
The second woman was alleged raped between November 2009 and August 2010 in Stirlingshire.
Mr Cooperwhite is also charged with three separate assaults on the first woman, which are alleged to have taken place in 2001 and 2002 in Benbecula and Paisley.
One of the accusations is that he pushed the woman, causing her to fall backwards down a flight of stairs.