A TRIAL date has been set for a serving Dorset Police officer accused of murdering a woman in a village pub car park.

Tim Brehmer, 41, is accused of killing Claire Parry outside the Horns Inn in West Parley last Saturday.

Mrs Parry, also 41, was found by ambulance paramedics unconscious at the scene and she later died in hospital the following day.

A short hearing was held over Skype by Winchester Crown Court in the absence of the defendant today.

Judge Jane Miller QC said that Exeter prison had been unable to produce Brehmer, from Hordle, Hampshire, for a videolink to the hearing.

She set a plea and trial preparation hearing for July 8, with an estimated two-week trial to start on October 5.

Brehmer’s counsel, Jane Rowley, did not apply for bail for the defendant.

As reported, Dorset Police were called to the car park of the Horns Inn in Christchurch Road, West Parley, on Saturday afternoon after the ambulance service reported that two people needed medical assistance.

Mrs Parry, from Bournemouth, was taken to Royal Bournemouth Hospital for treatment but died the following day.

A post-mortem examination concluded the cause of death was a brain injury caused by compression of the neck.

Brehmer was arrested at the scene of the incident and taken to Poole Hospital for treatment to a self-inflicted knife injury to his arm, which required surgery, before he was discharged into custody.

Dorset Police said the defendant, who served with the force but was on secondment to the National Police Air Service, was not on duty at the time of the incident but due to his occupation and the seriousness of the charge, a referral had been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.