A police officer accused of sexually pestering females at a force convalescent home is to face a two-day trial.
Perth Sheriff Court has been told that James McCallum’s trial will last at least two days because it involves a large number of prosecution and defence witnesses.
McCallum, who is still working but has been removed from frontline duties by Police Scotland, is alleged to have caused fear and alarm to a number of women.
He faces allegations relating to incidents at the National Police Treatment Centre in Auchterarder, Perthshire, in October last year.
James McCallum, 39, is alleged to have behaved in a threatening and abusive manner at the force’s national convalescent home for nearly a month.
McCallum, whose address was given as c/o Police Service Scotland, is accused of sexually pestering a number of women at the centre.
McCallum denies that between October 1 and October 25 last year he “repeatedly made comments and gestures of a sexual nature” in the presence of three females.
The charge alleges he acted in “a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm” at the Police Treatment Centre, Castlebrae, Auchterarder.
It is further alleged that McCallum “repeatedly requested unsolicited and unwanted dates” with one of the women and caused fear and alarm to all three of them.
McCallum, who was not in court on Thursday, denies the allegation and the trial is scheduled to start next month.
The Castlebrae centre, in Castleton Road, Auchterarder, treats nearly 1,700 injured, ill or recuperating police officers every year.
It is run on a charity basis, funded in the large part by serving police officers, and helps officers from Scotland, the north of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.