Armed PC who had sex with married woman while on duty KEPT his job - because he could still reach gun in holster round his ankles

PC Shaun Jenkins picked up lover for 40-minute tryst with colleague outside



The woman's husband discovered liaison, complained and he was sacked

Officer argued that he had control of his gun at all times and was reinstated

Watchdog say they are 'bemused' Gwent Police panel gave him his job back



'Finding that the gun was never out of PC Jenkins' control because it was attached to his trousers around his ankles is surprising', IPCC said



'Bemused': The IPCC today criticised the decision to give PC Shaun Jenkins his job back after having sex while on duty in Caerphilly, South Wales

An armed policeman who had sex with a married woman while on duty has been allowed to keep his job because his gun was within reach – attached to the trousers which were around his ankles.

PC Shaun Jenkins, 36, was on patrol when he picked up a woman in an armed response vehicle and took her back to his house for 40 minutes while his colleague waited outside.

Jenkins was later sacked for gross misconduct after the woman’s husband found out about the afternoon liaison and reported his love rival to police bosses.

But the award-winning officer was reinstated after an appeal ruling that his gun was never out of his control and he would have been able to respond to an emergency.

Yesterday the decision to give Jenkins his job back was criticised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Head of the IPCC in Wales, Tom Davies, said he was ‘bemused’ by the findings of the Police Appeals Panel.

He said: ‘The finding that the gun was never out of PC Jenkins’s direct and immediate control because it was in a holster, attached to his trousers, which were attached to him, albeit around his ankles, is surprising.’



He continued: ‘I am also bemused by the panel’s conclusion that his conduct did not significantly downgrade the protection to the public because there was nothing to suggest he could not have been back in the police vehicle within a minute or two.

‘These findings can only undermine public confidence in the credibility of the police discipline system.’

Mr Davies also said the way Gwent Police dealt with a complaint about PC Jenkins from the husband of the woman he had sex with was ‘unacceptable’.

PC Jenkins was on duty in Caerphilly in April 2010 when he invited the woman, who he knew, to his home for sex.

An investigation by Gwent Police initially resulted in a final written warning but when the IPCC told the force to treat PC Jenkins’s actions as gross misconduct he was sacked.

However in April 2012 he successfully appealed against his dismissal and was reinstated. PC Jenkins had already won a bravery award when he was caught having sex on duty.



And after being reinstated he won a Chief Constable’s Award for bravery after clinging for over an hour to a suicidal woman who was threatening to jump off a railway bridge.

Despite his awards Mr Davies said PC Jenkins’ behaviour and the force’s handling of the complaint against him were ‘unacceptable’.

He said: ‘Any officer having sex on duty is unacceptable behaviour that falls well below what is expected of all police officers.

‘Those who carry firearms are rightly subject to the highest standards of training, procedures and discipline.

‘The manner in which this complaint was originally handled by Gwent Police is unacceptable and their attempts to “fast-track” the complaint and deal with it outside the formal regulations are not good enough.’

