AN Avon and Somerset Police officer has been sacked following a special case hearing held at the force's HQ.

Adam Leighton-Price was dismissed without notice at a hearing chaired by Chief Constable Andy Marsh.

The case followed a hearing at Gloucester Crown Court last month, when Leighton-Price admitted one count of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence and three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images. These images depicted sexual acts involving animals.

In addition to being dismissed, Leighton-Price has been placed on the National College of Policing’s Barred List, preventing him from working within policing and certain law enforcement bodies.

His crimes came to light after a member of the public he was conversing with via a social media channel alerted a child protection charity.

These concerns were passed onto the police resulting in the officer being suspended while an investigation was carried out.

Following the hearing, Supt Richard Corrigan, the constabulary's head of professional standards, said: “Adam Leighton-Price has admitted extremely serious offences at court and will be sentenced for these crimes later this month.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms his deplorable actions and want to thank the member of the public for alerting the authorities to his offending.

“His crimes have had a significant impact on those who worked with him who were completely unaware of the appalling offences he was committing online.

“We’ve carried out a full safeguarding review and have worked with our partner agencies to identify and address the risks posed by his offending.

“As a result of the hearing this former officer will never be allowed to work in law enforcement again.”