A Metropolitan Police officer will stand trial next year after denying groping a woman during a night out.

Pc Emeri Ratucoko, 37, allegedly grabbed the complainant’s breast at a nightclub in Kingston on February 7.

Prosecutors said he then became involved in an altercation with the bar manager.

Ratucoko appeared at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday where he pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.

In charges read out to him, the defendant was accused of intentionally touching the woman in a sexual way.

Ratucoko, of Wandsworth, is alleged to have “not believed she reasonably consented”.

Last month he opted for a jury trial, which is set to take place from August 29 next year.

He was granted unconditional bail until then.

The Met previously said the officer, who was off duty at the time of the incident, has been placed on restricted duties and has no face-to-face contact with the public and no involvement in the investigation of sexual offences.