A CUMBRIAN police officer has been sacked for gross misconduct after visiting a woman for secret regular sexual “trysts” while on duty.

Barrow-based PC Matt Simpson admitted engaging in late night liaisons while the pair were involved in a “casual relationship” between 2014 and 2016 after meeting online.

PC Simpson, 29, insisted sexual encounters occurred around 15 times and only after shifts had finished.

But the woman, who hadn’t made a formal complaint, told a misconduct hearing in Penrith earlier this week there were “more than 20” visits by the officer - an aspiring detective - when he should have been working. He arrived, she said, wearing a hi-viz yellow jacket and equipped with a body camera, handcuffs, baton, spray and Taser device.

PC Simpson, an officer with six years’ service who initially joined Cumbria police as a special constable, appeared before a three-strong disciplinary panel to face a string of allegations and stood accused of breaching the force’s standards of professional behaviour.

OUR VIEW: PC Simpson neglected his community

Members of the panel - comprising legally qualified chairman Nicholas Walker, a senior police officer and an independent lay person - were asked to determine, on the balance of probability, whether the breaches occurred after hearing evidence and considering a wealth of material.

The panel concluded it had found gross misconduct both in relation to PC Simpson’s on-duty sexual contact with Miss X, and searches he made for her on a police computer system in October, 2015, due to being “personally curious”.

PC Simpson was dismissed without notice by the panel this morning.