A POLICE officer who admitted using the police database to find information before harassing and sending death threats to his victim has been sacked.

Allan Smith, a former police constable at Dorset Police, was today dismissed with immediate effect at a special police hearing after he was found guilty of one charge of discreditable conduct which amounts to gross misconduct.

As reported in the Echo, Smith had previously admitted multiple incidents of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, disclosing information without lawful authority and obtaining information without lawful authority at Dorchester Crown Court.

At court, Smith admitted to harassing the victim between January 2013 and September 2014.

During this time, Smith sent frightening and threatening messages to the complainant. One message saw Smith threaten to kill the complainant’s ex-partner. Smith was arrested in August last year with a condition of bail that he would not contact the victim.

Despite this, Smith continued to do so. He was arrested in September on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions.

When his phone data was examined, it revealed he had also released protected police information.

Two pictures were found of a cannabis factory where he had been carrying out a warrant. These were sent to the victim with a message stating he was undercover.

He is due to be sentenced on Friday, July 10, and Dorchester Crown Court.

Now, in a landmark police hearing held today at the force’s headquarters in Winfrith, Smith, who used to live in Bovington, has been sacked.

The special police hearing heard PC Smith’s actions during 2013 and 2014 and his subsequent conviction breached the standards of professional behaviour and brought discredit on the police service and undermined public confidence.

Finding PC Smith guilty of gross misconduct, Dorset Police Chief Constable Debbie Simpson said police officers should perform to the highest standards of both professional and personal behaviour at all times.

“Officers need to be able to separate issues in their private lives with that of acting professionally as a police officer.

“The public quite rightly expect that officers behave with integrity and within the law. By abiding by these standards officers gain and maintain the trust of the public, they are dependable and can be trusted at all times.

"Trust and legitimacy are fundamental principles on which policing stands.

“I believe it is untenable that an officer who has been found guilty of three offences can still hold a position within the police service and secondly I believe I would be supported in that assertion by members of the public.

“I fully accept Constable Smith regrets his actions and has offered a profuse apology to his colleagues and the Force, but having given careful consideration to all the evidence presented in his hearing, I have concluded on the balance of probabilities that Constable Smith’s conduct amounts to gross misconduct and that the appropriate outcome is dismissal without notice.”

Smith, who did not attend the hearing, accepted that his behaviour amounted to discreditable conduct.

Police Sergeant Martin Davenport, of the Police Federation, read out a statement on PC Smith’s behalf.

PC Smith said he was experiencing difficulties in his work and personal life which caused him to make errors of judgement but accepted that he should have dealt with matters in a more professional way.

He added that he has suffered from domestic abuse and had recently lost his mother.