A POLICE officer has lost his job and been laughed out of court after a lengthy legal battle over a used razor he tried to take back to Boots.

Shane Bird, 47, was convicted and sacked after attempting to get a refund for the £69.99 Braun shaver - which had clearly been used and contained traces of his DNA.

He denied any wrongdoing and took the case to crown court - where a jury convicted him leaving him with a bill of over £3,200.

The conviction lost him his job with Avon and Somerset Police - but the former officer refused to accept the outcome and took the case to the Court of Appeal in London.

But bringing his two-and-a-half years fight to an end, the court branded his application a "waste of time", and denied his appeal.

Speaking at the court last Tuesday, Justice Carr said: "This has represented an unacceptable waste of the time of staff and of three judges of the Court of Appeal.

"There was an overwhelming case against him that he handed in a razor which he knew was old."

Bird, from Midsomer Norton, took a used electric razor and tried to obtain a refund or replacement from the Boots store in September 2014.

Prosecutors said the Braun razor had clearly been used, was worn in places and was contaminated with Bird's DNA.

The once respected beat bobby denied any wrongdoing, but was found guilty in November 2015 by a jury at Taunton Crown Court.

Bird was fined £500, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £50, compensation of £69.99 and also costs of £2,800.

In February 2016 he was then dismissed from Avon and Somerset Police after a misconduct panel concluded he had breached standards of professional behaviour.

The hearing ruled: "He had been dishonest in that he had carried out a fraudulent refund and gained financially; and by bringing discreditable conduct on the police service by virtue of his conduct.

"The panel found that the allegations against Police Sergeant Bird were proven as gross misconduct and that he be dismissed without notice."

But representing himself, Bird claimed he had been badly represented at his trial and that the guilty verdict should be overturned at the Court of Appeal this week.

Bird told the judge, sitting with Mr Justice Gilbart and Lady Justice Thirlwall, that his trial lawyers had failed him.

They had failed to gather evidence of his good character or to get the razor tested to see if anyone else's DNA was on it, he said.

But Mrs Justice Carr said there had been ample evidence on which the jury could convict him and no valid criticism could be made of his lawyers.

He had been advised that the case against him at his trial was "strong" and, once he had given his evidence, his defence was "unsustainable".

She said there was no arguable basis for an appeal, before branding his application a "waste of time".

It should not have been started in the first place and certainly not continued after he had been told he stood no chance, she said.

The judges ordered Bird to pay the £69.30 cost of preparing transcripts for the case.

Bird, who was born in Bath, Somerset, moved to the beat in Bristol in 2004 after he was forced out of his home city by a hate campaign from local criminals.

He was previously nominated by Avon and Somerset Police for probationer of the year.