A police officer charged with shouting racial remarks at a woman walked free yesterday because of a prosecution blunder.

A police officer charged with shouting racial remarks at a woman walked free yesterday because of a prosecution blunder.

Grampian Police constable Calley Lornie, 23, was claimed to have acted in a racially-aggravated manner at a taxi rank in Aberdeen's Back Wynd last year.

She was alleged to have shouted racist comments at Claudia Assamoli which caused or intended to cause alarm or distress. But yesterday a sheriff threw the case out of court after it was revealed Ms Lornie faced the wrong charge.

The law states that a person can only be charged with acting in a racially-aggravated manner if the victim is in the presence of the accused. But defence lawyer Peter Shepherd argued that Ms Assamoli was no longer with his client when the alleged offence happened.

Yesterday bungling prosecutors tried to change the charge to a racially-aggravated breach of the peace when the case was called in court. However, the law also states that an accused person must be brought to trial within a year of his or her first court appearance.

Mr Shepherd said: "I oppose this motion. This case has gone through a number of trial diets. The Crown are amending the charge a year and two months after the offence. You can't amend the charge at this stage."

The fiscal-depute asked for the case to be temporarily abandoned. But Sheriff Annella Cowan refused to let the case go ahead.

No further proceedings will now be taken against Ms Lornie. However, the officer still faces losing her job.

A Grampian Police spokesman said: "Now that criminal proceedings have concluded, the force will consider misconduct matters."