A former Berkshire-based sergeant found to have accessed indecent images of children has been barred from serving in any force.

A Thames Valley Police misconduct hearing found Gavin Kelly, who was based at Loddon Valley station in Earley, with gross misconduct.

He viewed and/or distributed 36 indecent images involving sexual activity with children and animals, as well as attempting to procure services from a sex worker, the three-person panel found.

The panel described the misconduct involving children as ‘particularly grave’.

Mr Kelley had accepted in an interview that the iPhone discovered to have the images on belonged to him.

It was alleged that a file-sharing account was linked to an email address belonging to Mr Kelley.

According to evidence, the account user had a ‘high number of files and folders present on the platform’, making them more than just a ‘passive’ subscriber.

Although the panel said there had been ‘sufficient proximation’ between the account creator and sharer of indecent material, it was accepted that there was no evidence that Mr Kelley had engaged in a wider distribution of images himself.

Mr Kelley also was found to take a covert photograph of a female colleague at a social event, which amounted to an abuse of position due to her being junior to him. This was distributed to two senior members of staff.

The colleague, who made an impact statement at the hearing, said she was left in a state ‘of considerable stress’.

An apology was tendered on behalf of the officer, but the panel noted that the apology ‘did not extend to the children who were abused’.

The panel said it saw ‘no evidence of any understanding or appreciation on the officers part of the harms that flowed as a consequence of the illegal images that he downloaded’.

The panel also found the former officer to have shared confidential information from police systems custody with other officers. Although this was for policing purposes, these were through ‘illegitimate means’.

Mr Kelley argued that the misconduct occurred at a time ‘of high workload’, having taken ‘significant periods of leave owing to ill-health’, but did not present evidence to support these assertions.

Mr Kelley resigned from his role on August 12.

If he hadn’t, the ex-officer would have been dismissed given his misconduct was ‘entirely inconsistent with the high standards that the public expect’, leading to an ‘entire erosion’ in public confidence.