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A Somerset police officer has been sacked for gross misconduct after he was found to have sent screenshots of a fake text message exchange to the partner of a fellow officer.

PC Simon Bidgood was also found to have made reference to the victim's sex life as well as his alleged relationship difficulties with his colleague and his mental health while he was on police duty on February 17.

A tribunal in Portishead found that Bidgood had breached standards of professional behaviour including duties and responsibilities, honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.

Bidgood's actions were described as "unprofessional and offensive" and behaviour that had fallen below the high standards expected of a police officer.

The allegations

Bidgood faced the following allegations at the tribunal:

He had breached his duties and responsibilities in that he added the victim, referred to as Mr Y, as a friend on Facebook and conducted a conversation with him on Facebook Messenger while he was on police duty on February 17.

He breached his duties of honesty and integrity when he:

- used a website to create a fake text message exchange that had apparently taken place between Bidgood and Mr Y's partner, referred to as PC X, when it had not.

- sent Mr Y a screenshot of the fake conversation and made out it was a genuine exchange between him and PC X when it was not.

- sent Mr Y a message stating "I typed her name into my messages to send her a message and it came up with this" in reference to the screenshot, which was untrue.

- sent Mr Y a message stating "I woke up this morning and took that screenshot and then went back to sleep" which was untrue

- used a website to create a fake text message exchange that had apparently taken place between Bidgood and Mr Y's partner, referred to as PC X, when it had not. - sent Mr Y a screenshot of the fake conversation and made out it was a genuine exchange between him and PC X when it was not. - sent Mr Y a message stating "I typed her name into my messages to send her a message and it came up with this" in reference to the screenshot, which was untrue. - sent Mr Y a message stating "I woke up this morning and took that screenshot and then went back to sleep" which was untrue He had shown discreditable conduct in that he had instigated and continued a conversation on Facebook Messenger with Mr Y, who he had never met before, in which he:

- referred to Mr Y's sex life with PC X.

- referred to Mr Y's alleged relationship difficulties with PC X.

- referred to Mr Y's mental health.

All of the allegations against Bidgood were proven.

He was found guilty of gross misconduct on the charges of honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct and guilty of misconduct for breaching his duties and responsibilities.

Following the tribunal, Superintendent Simon Wilstead, head of professional standards at Avon and Somerset Police, said: “PC Bidgood has been found to have acted dishonestly sending a message to a member of the public which included a faked text conversation between him and a third party.

“While this dishonesty did not relate to his policing duties and was not operational dishonesty any evidence that an officer is dishonest or lacks integrity is serious as it undermines trust and confidence in the police service.

“Other messages he sent following this to the same person were both unprofessional and offensive.

“We expect our officers and staff to uphold the values of the policing service at all times but it’s clear PC Bidgood’s behaviour has fallen below these high standards.”

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