Old Bailey: As the News Shopper went to press, the jury was being sworn in for the trial of a Greenwich policeman.

Sergeant Peter Solley, aged 47, of Orlon Crescent, Bexleyheath, denies nine charges of raping a 50-year-old Caribbean community worker between February 1997 and August last year.

The sergeant, who received an OBE and a special mention in the Macpherson report into racism in the Metropolitan Police, also denies committing perjury during the Lawrence inquiry hearings by "wilfully making a statement he knew to be false or did not believe to be true"

Married Solley was bailed to appear for the trial at the Old Bailey on Monday.

He was awarded the OBE for his services to the community as a liaison officer for over 10 years and his anti-racist views during the inquiry into the murder of Eltham teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1998.

He acted as a "go-between" between the police and the Lawrence family during the inquiry and was praised by Sir William Macpherson for being a "sympathetic and well-intentioned man" whose "value to the community was and is in our opinion considerable".

Sgt Solley has been suspended from duty since last October while the charges against him were investigated.

November 27, 2001 11:00