PC made sex jokes about colleagues, says force

A police officer who made sexual comments to colleagues and joked about the death of a fellow officer's mother committed gross misconduct, a disciplinary hearing concluded.

Cambridgeshire Police said PC Simon Taylor showed an "extraordinary level of insensitivity, indiscipline and vulgarity" while in a "role model position".

The hearing ruled that the 34-year-old, who was stationed at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge, would have been dismissed without notice had he not already resigned from his role in August last year.

Chief Constable Simon Megicks said Taylor's conduct was "intentional and targeted".

"[It] brings the policing profession into disrepute and risks damaging the vital relationship between the police and the public," he said.

The report submitted to the hearing said Taylor "zoomed into a photograph of a female colleague's breasts in a photograph on her device", and "tried to high five another officer after reading an incident log".

Taylor also "stated that he would have sex with a dog" - the report said - and had joked about the death of a colleague's mother while attending "a sudden death incident or driving past a dead animal in the road".

It also set out a number of other offensive comments of a sexual nature.

Taylor did not attend the hearing at Lysander House in Bedfordshire on 9 March, which concluded his behaviour continued "despite being challenged".

The hearing was told he had seven years of service when he resigned on 21 August.

• Details of help and support with sexual abuse or violence are available in the UK at BBC Action Line

Cambridgeshire Police said Taylor had "personal challenges" and appeared to have shown a level of "acceptance, insight and remorse" before disengaging with the misconduct process.

The hearing found his conduct breached the police's standards of professional behaviour "with regard to discreditable conduct and authority, respect and courtesy" and therefore amounted to gross misconduct.

Megicks said Taylor's behaviour "fell far below the standards expected".

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.