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Police officers who have brought the reputation of their forces into disrepute this year have been dealt with by misconduct hearings or the courts.

Drink drivers, officers caught up in altercations and sexual predators have all been the subject of proceedings involving the Cleveland and Durham forces.

These are the officers involved:

Simon Hurwood

(Image: Katie Lunn)

The sleazy former Cleveland Police detective inspector was found guilty of gross misconduct in November after years of sexual abuse against young and vulnerable female officers.

Hurwood used his position as a senior officer in the force to take advantage of subordinate women between 2004 and 2018 by coercing them into sex and persuading them to send him sexually explicit pictures and videos of themselves.

He carried out some of his worst behaviour while inspector in the force's Professional Standards Department, targeting women who were going through personal issues such as bereavement and even post-natal depression.

Hurwood, who had retired from the force before his hearing, was placed on a barring list for any future police employment.

Ralph Bainbridge

PC Bainbridge was found guilty of gross misconduct and sacked after he drunkenly squeezed a woman’s breast when on a day trip out with colleagues in York.

Bainbridge had claimed at a disciplinary hearing he was trying to hug the woman from behind and he accidentally touched her breast.

(Image: Getty Images)

But his account was not believed by the panel.

At a hearing in September, the Hartlepool-based officer agreed with Cleveland Police’s representative Dijen Basu QC that he was “3/4 of the way to absolutely wasted”, having drank 16 pints of beer, when it happened on the pub crawl last October.

Anthony Simpson

Cleveland Police sergeant Simpson was dismissed from the force after being given a one-year community order for involvement in a “violent disturbance both inside and outside” of the Red Lion pub in Ramsgate, Stockton.

Staff had kicked him out of the pub during the disturbance with “several others” where he received injuries.

The hearing found that Simpson’s conviction amounted to “gross misconduct, namely discreditable conduct”.

He was off-duty at the time of the disturbance on January 27 and had denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and pleaded not guilty.

He was later convicted of the public order offence.

Tina Notman

Inspector Tina Notman was dismissed from Cleveland Police in February after admitting being more than twice the drink-drive limit when stopped behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz SLK.

(Image: Terry Blackburn)

A breath test showed she had 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The force found Notman breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour, namely discreditable conduct and immediately dismissed her.

Misconduct matters are still being considered.

Daniel Reed

PC Daniel Reed of Durham Constabulary was dismissed after punching a man he was arresting six times in the head despite him already being incapacitated by a Taser.

A misconduct hearing held in August concluded the officer used excessive force during the arrest.

The independent panel found that the behaviour of former police sergeant Gary O’Neill, who was present during the arrest, did not amount to misconduct.

Reed, former PS O’Neill and four other officers attended the The Dalesman Pub in Darlington to arrest the man, but he did not co-operate and an altercation took place.

Officers used pepper spray and then a Taser during their attempts to make the arrest.

The Taser incapacitated the man, however PC Reed then punched him in the head a total of six times, before he was placed in a police van and taken into custody.