A serving West Yorkshire Police officer was cleared by a jury of raping a schoolgirl yesterday.

However, jurors were discharged from further deliberations after failing to reach a verdict on subsequent charges of attempted rape and two indecent assaults against the same girl.

Sergeant Salim Ismail, of Oakworth, Keighley, stared forward in the dock expressionless as he was acquitted of the rape allegation by a jury of seven men and five women.

The suited 53-year-old defendant had stood trial over allegations that he sexually abused the girl while working for Surrey Police between 1993 and 1996. He denied the charges.

Ismail is currently suspended from duty with the West Yorkshire force.

The Crown Prosecution Service was last night considering whether to apply for a retrial following an eight-day trial at at Guildford Crown Court, Surrey.