A DETECTIVE from Avon and Somerset Police has been sacked after he handed out his mobile number to the victim of a crime.

DC Philip Aspinall was dismissed by Avon and Somerset Police at a misconduct hearing this morning.

It is alleged that in February 2015, he gave the victim of a serious crime his personal phone number.

The pair kept in contact with calls and text messages until around June 2015. 

The panel said that in giving out his personal mobile number as a contact, he was in breach of Avon and Somerset guidance as to best practice.

 He was then alleged to have deleted all of the messages between him and the woman, and that he failed to make a written record of all relevant information contained in those text messages.

A statement from the hearing said: "Those text messages contained the only written record of his relevant contact with Miss XY.

"Information contained in those text messages was relevant to the criminal investigation arising from a sensitive operation.

"In deleting those text messages:

  • He was in breach of his obligations under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and the CPS Disclosure Manual to record and retain material that is relevant to the investigation; and
  • He intended to conceal the contents of those messages and frustrate potential misconduct proceedings by deleting relevant evidence.

In another incident, he was accused of accessing the police database for non-police matters and then passed on the information. 

DC Aspinall admitted the above allegations, and the panel found that the allegations against him were proven together as gross misconduct and directed that he be dismissed without notice.

Another police office in the force was also the subject of a misconduct hearing, DS Simon Chubb was found guilty of gross misconduct after having sex with an "extremely vulnerable" victim.

Assistant chief constable Sarah Crew said: “Firstly, I would like to offer the women involved in these separate cases our sincere apologies – the actions of these two officers were wholly unacceptable.

“As a force, we are tenacious in driving out this type of behaviour and, where we find it, challenging it and taking appropriate action.

“We regularly communicate with all our officers and staff the standards of professional behaviour we expect from all our employees.

“We are currently working on a new training package which will be rolled out very shortly to underpin this.

“The actions of these two men are in stark contrast to the vast majority of officers and staff at Avon and Somerset who work tirelessly to protect those most vulnerable in our communities."

“We expect the highest level of professional standards from all our police officers and, where these standards are not met, we will robustly investigate all allegations.

“In line with national guidance, we aim to hold all misconduct hearings in public to deal with these matters in a transparent and fair manner.”