Special PC sacked over photo of colleague's bottom

Adam Heath-Gardiner, a special constable, was found guilty of misconduct at a hearing at Northamptonshire Police headquarters

A police officer who took a picture of his colleague's bottom while she slept has been dismissed.

A disciplinary panel heard Adam Heath-Gardiner photographed her while he was looking after her children at her house.

Extreme pornography including images of bestiality were also found on the special constable's laptop and phone.

He admitted breaching professional standards and was dismissed from Northamptonshire Police.

Mr Heath-Gardiner's colleague reported him after she found the images of herself on his laptop.

She was asleep and did not give her consent at the time of the offence.

Chat forum pornography

The former officer said he deleted the image shortly after taking it and had not realised images would be shared to a storage cloud.

A search of his phone and laptop found four videos and 20 images containing extreme pornography, including bestiality.

Regarding the pornography, Mr Heath-Gardiner said he was sent that in an online chat forum.

He said he did not know what it was when he opened it and then he deleted it, but again, it had been copied on to his laptop.

The panel heard that as an officer he should have recognised that extreme pornography was illegal and reported it.

The panel, chaired by Chief Constable Nick Adderley, found Mr Heath-Gardiner guilty of gross misconduct and he was ordered to leave the force immediately.

The case had previously gone to court but was dismissed when the witness failed to turn up.

Special constables are volunteer police officers who have the same powers as regular police officers once they have completed their training.