A POLICE officer is being prosecuted at Paisley Sheriff Court for allegedly assaulting a man in Barrhead.

Richard Hardcastle is said to have left Sean McNeil injured after attacking him in Cross Arthurlie Street on April 9, 2017.

He faces a single assault charge and the case called for the first time last week.

It is claimed that 25-year-old Hardcastle “did forcibly push him, causing him to fall over a railing there and to strike his head on the roadway, to his injury.”

Hardcastle, whose address was given on court papers as care of Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department, in Glasgow, was not present when the case called before Sheriff James Spy.

A letter pleading not guilty was submitted on his behalf and the case was adjourned until June for a trial to take place.

In addition, a pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for May.