A police officer who said Adolf Hitler had 'never done him any harm' because he had "never met him personally" has been dismissed from a force

Pc David Alston was involved in a WhatsApp group with friends who served in the Army Reserves that exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic "banter", a misconduct tribunal was told.

In the messages, the disgraced Essex Police response officer referred to a "pikey killings trial" and said Asians "reproduce like 3/1 compared to us".

The former Royal Signals soldier even described a waitress working in a London bar as a "hot black chick", "umbongo" and "coco angel" when out with friends.

In one exchange, a friend wrote: "Dave's your stereotypical copper. He doesn't like blacks."

And when discussing Adolf Hitler, Alston wrote: "He has never done any of us any harm."

The group of 10 friends also shared extreme pornography, and Alston failed to challenge homophobic slurs and joked about gay sex

A misconduct panel held in Chelmsford Civic Centre heard the messages were uncovered after a member of the group was arrested for domestic violence and common assault.

Police seized the phone and downloaded Alston's messages after the suspect was arrested.

Alston left the WhatsApp group in September 2017 after resigning from the armed forces - but was hauled in front of investigators for the messages sent between March and June of that year.