Police sergeant asked to work from home - what she did during lunch break got her sacked

A police sergeant who asked to work from home was found to have had sex for an hour after texting a man "I may or may not have f****d in work". Amy Roberts was scheduled to work her 7am to 4pm shift on January 30 last year but during a Merseyside Police misconduct hearing, it emerged between between 9.14am and 4.35pm, Ms Roberts engaged in communications with a man, consisting of 287 messages including WhatsApp messages, voice notes and photo messages. The time spent on these messages was found to be four hours and 24 minutes.

At around 12.23pm, the man Ms Roberts had been messaging arrived at her home address where he stayed until at around 1.32pm, during which time the pair had engaged in "sexual intercourse", according a report published by the force. The messages were personal and sexual in nature and included images of Ms Roberts in her underwear and pornography of others, Liverpool Echo reported. The report, following the misconduct hearing on Monday, January 20, continued to say how one of the messages sent by the now former police sergeant said: "I may or may not have f****d in work." Ms Roberts did not accept the total amount of time sending and receiving WhatsApp messages and claimed that the sex lasted "no more than 30 minutes". The report continued to state how she claims to have "utilised her 50 minute break to have sexual intercourse".

Ms Roberts also accepted sending the message stating she "may or may not have f****d in work" but said it was in response to a question asked by the man before they had sex. The misconduct committed by Ms Roberts was broken down into three allegations, discreditable conduct; duties and responsibilities; and honesty and integrity. She accepted the first two allegations, but disputed the third as she did not believe she lacked honesty and integrity. The former sergeant stated the allegations amounted to misconduct rather than gross misconduct. Despite the argument put forward by Ms Roberts, the panel found her behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

The report concluded: "Having decided that disciplinary action should follow its findings of gross misconduct, in line with paragraph 20.66 of the Home Office Guidance, the panel determined that had the former officer still been a serving officer with Merseyside Police, she would have been dismissed.". Detective Chief Superintendent Sabi Kaur, Head of the force’s Professional Standards Department, said: “We expect the highest standards at all time from our officers and staff and when their actions fall below those standards we will take swift and effective action. Clearly the actions of the former Sergeant on this day were totally unacceptable and it’s only right that a Misconduct Hearing formally dismissed her.

“Having the confidence of the public is essential for us to police Merseyside effectively and I want our communities to feel reassured that we are committed to finding those who fail to adhere to our professional standards and removing from the force. The unacceptable action of individuals will not be allowed to damage the good name built up by the vast majority of our officers and staff who do an exemplary job to ensure that all of our communities are protected.".

Detective Chief Superintendent Kaur added: “We want to hear about officers and staff who do not uphold the values we demand and have introduced Call It Out and the Crimestoppers Internal Integrity Line, an internal campaign to encourage colleagues to call out behaviour that does not align with our principles. It empowers officers and staff to challenge behaviour in the workplace, as well as providing an avenue to confidentially report behaviour into our Professional Standards Department.".