Northants PC Karen Clarke dismissed for gross misconduct

PC Karen Clarke's case is the second public hearing to be held by Northamptonshire Police

A police officer has been sacked without notice after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

PC Karen Clarke, 49, was found guilty of a number of breaches at a hearing at Northamptonshire Police headquarters.

She failed to notify the force of an association with a drug dealer who was in a relationship with her daughter and had not given an "honest account" of an incident concerning her son.

Ms Clarke, an officer with 18 years' experience, has 10 days to appeal.

She was cleared of a third charge of failing to deal appropriately with an incident in which she had a row with her son while in full uniform in the centre of Kettering.

Ms Clarke, based in Kettering, was found to have failed to submit intelligence logs on a "prolific" offender who visited her home during an on-off relationship with her daughter.

'Compromised good service'

The third charge was that she "played dumb" to cover for her son after he failed to stop for police, before parking up and running away from officers.

Asked to explain why she failed to inform a sergeant that she had spoken to her son on a mobile phone after the incident, Ms Clarke said: "I don't know, I was kind of wanting him (the sergeant) to deal with it.

"I said 'He's an absolute idiot, he'll go back to prison but what can you do?'"

The car was left in an area that her son, who was on licence, was banned from visiting without arrangements with his probation team.

The hearing was told Ms Clarke took a call from her son and failed to tell her supervisor that she had spoken to him, despite knowing that the incident was being investigated.

"My mind was absolute mush, thinking he can't do this again," Ms Clarke said.

She was also found guilty of deleting a chain of text messages.

Defending, barrister Steven Evans said Ms Clarke had "dedicated herself to the force for 18 years and over a period of seven days compromised her otherwise good service".

He had asked for the panel to punish her by way of a fine or a written warning rather than dismissal.