Rape charge dropped

Noel Rogers, accused of the 1994 murder of Northland woman Katherine Sheffield, had also been charged with raping her, but that charge was dropped yesterday.

The 23-year-old woman's lover, Lawrence (Borrie) Lloyd, spent nearly eight years in prison after being wrongly convicted of her manslaughter. Lloyd's conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in August of last year.

Rogers' trial is set down for November in the High Court at Auckland.