One of Oxfordshire’s most senior police officers has been charged with perverting the course of justice and two counts of insurance fraud.

Chief Supt Jim Trotman, 44, from Abingdon, will appear before Swindon Magistrates’ Court on April 19.

The arrest was made by officers from the Thames Valley Police’s Professional Standards Department on February 11 after an investigation into an allegation of arson and associated insurance claim.

Trotman, an ex-Royal Marine who saw action in the first Gulf War, remains suspended from police duty.

He was Oxford police commander for two years before his promotion to headquarters in 2007.