Deputy police chief returns after written warning

Jim Colwell has been given a written warning by the police watchdog

Devon and Cornwall Police's deputy chief constable is back in his job after being suspended in November for alleged "professional standards breaches".

Jim Colwell faced claims he used his work mobile phone to exchange messages of a "personal nature".

He has now been given a written warning "to last for 18 months" after misconduct was proven by a police watchdog panel.

In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police said: "DCC Colwell has now returned fully to his duties in his substantive rank of deputy chief constable."

'Discreditable conduct'

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found Mr Colwell breached the force's notifiable associations policy, after a tribunal was held on 18 July.

The misconduct tribunal "found that his actions breached professional standards relating to orders and instructions and discreditable conduct", the IOPC said.

It comes after the police watchdog concluded in May there was no evidence of gross misconduct by Mr Colwell.

The Devon and Cornwall force said Mr Colwell would be supporting Chief Constable James Vaughan and the force's executive team on "driving continued improvements in performance".

It also said it would be focusing on "returning additional officers to the front line by reducing senior ranks and rolling out a clear focus on the government's neighbourhood policing guarantee to communities across Devon and Cornwall".