A policeman appeared at Luton Crown Court today after being charged with the rape of a teenage girl.

PC Leigh Brightman, 36, appeared before Luton Crown Court on Monday charged with the rape of a 15-year-old on August 9 last year.

He will now appear before court for the plea and date management hearing on Friday, April 24.

Brightman, from Hitchin, is also accused of making (downloading) and possessing indecent images and a film of children, and misconduct in a public office between April 2009 and June 2014.

Brightman, who served as an officer in Watford, Rickmansworth and north Hertfordshire, was arrested in August and suspended from duty.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been informed.