A Hamilton cop is being demoted for two years and losing about $40,000 in pay for seeking out the services of a sex trade worker and paying her $20 for oral sex.

Constable Thomas McKay pleaded guilty Thursday morning to two counts of discreditable conduct: one for engaging in sex with a prostitute, the other for initially lying about the sex trade worker, saying she was an informant.

McKay was off-duty during the July 23, 2013 incident.

Under a joint sentencing submission, approved by hearing officer Bob Strathdee, McKay was demoted from first-class constable to third-class constable for one year, followed by another year at the second-class constable level.

The accompanying pay reduction will knock $40,000 off his paycheques over the course of the next two years, prosecutor Marco Visentini told the hearing.

"There's no doubt this (mis)conduct is serious," he said. "This is a lengthy and costly demotion."

McKay's lawyer Gary Clewley agreed.

"It is a severe penalty, but . this is a severe form of misconduct," Clewley said in his sentencing submission.

Pointing to what he said was a personnel folder "chock full of letters of commendation and support from his superior officers and members of the public," Clewley argued that seeking sex with a prostitute was "an isolated incident" and promised that his client would not be back before the hearing again.

In his sentencing submissions, Visentini stressed the seriousness of the offence, the damage it does to the public trust and confidence in police and argued the sentence needed to reflect that seriousness.

But he agreed with Clewley that McKay appeared genuinely remorseful and was a good candidate for rehabilitation. He noted with approval McKay's voluntary participation in the Elizabeth Fry Society's so-called John School, which educates clients in the true social costs and dangers of the sex trade.

According to an agreed statement of facts filed Thursday, McKay was off-duty and in a private vehicle on the afternoon of July 23, 2013 when he was spotted (but not identified) by a member of the police High Enforcement Action Team (HEAT). The HEAT officer was monitoring prostitution activity in the area of Barton Street East and Saint Olga Street.

McKay circled the block and returned, pulling to the curb to talk with a known prostitute.

McKay, an east-end patrol officer with 18 years' experience, invited the woman into his car and then drove to a nearby parking area where he received oral sex. The prostitute later told police she charged him $20 for the service and said she did not know he was a police officer.

Stopped by HEAT Constable Kobe Saffu, McKay was recognized as a police officer and was asked what he was doing.

A "shocked" McKay told Saffu he'd been "meeting with a confidential informant," the agreed statement of facts recounts.

Challenged on the truth of that claim, McKay "drove away from the scene quickly."

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Despite that initial reaction, Clewley told the hearing, the officer admitted his guilt in his initial meeting with investigators. "From the very beginning, his instructions to me have been to plead guilty."

"He'll do his suspension and go back to being the fine police officer that he was," Clewley promised hearing officer Strathdee.