A NEWLY-APPOINTED police officer has been given a final written warning after kissing a colleague on the cheek and putting her arm around another officer's waist.

PC Hayley Pegg, who works for Northumbria Police, was accused of subjecting four colleagues to unwanted touching.

At a misconduct hearing, which took place between July 11 and July 15, she was found to have committed gross misconduct, a ruling which can result in dismissal without notice.

A panel found that on the balance of probabilities, PC Pegg grabbed/touched an officer’s face, tried to kiss an officer, and kissed an officer on the cheek.

The panel found the touching was intentional, the officer did not consent to this and there was no attempt by PC Pegg to obtain such consent.

The panel also found that PC Pegg did intentionally put her arm around the waist of another officer. They again found the officer did not consent to it and there was no attempt by PC Pegg to obtain such consent.

The panel found an allegation against a third colleague was not intentional but was accidental. Another allegation against a fourth colleague was not proven.

Following the hearing, the panel found PC Pegg breached the standards of authority, respect and courtesy.

The report said: "This is because she did not treat her colleagues with respect and courtesy due to touching them when such touching was not consented to.

"Her behaviour is clearly damaging to the reputation of both herself and of policing generally."

The panel also found that PC Pegg breached the standard of discreditable conduct.

"This is because she has behaved in a manner which could discredit the police service as she failed to maintain the highest standards of behaviour," the report said. "The conduct could result in members of the public losing trust and confidence in the policing profession."

According to the report, the officer "accepted that she was drunk and did not seek to downplay this".

"There was an element of stress at the time as explained by the officer, particularly around her home and this was why she drank more than usual," the report said. "This however does not mitigate the matters that are found proven."

The panel found that the breaches amount to gross misconduct.

They decided a final written warning was "sufficient when considering the serious nature of the proven allegations, the purpose of the regime and the protection of the public".

Supt Steve Ammari, Head of the Professional Standards Department at Northumbria Police, said: "When we became aware of concerns relating to the off-duty conduct of this student officer they were suspended. We carried out a thorough investigation and as a result presented a case to an independently-chaired misconduct hearing where they received a final written warning.

"We would like to take this opportunity to recognise those colleagues who rightly came forward to report their concerns. We have always been clear that we expect officers, staff and volunteers to maintain the highest standards at all times.

"If anyone is found to have fallen below these we are committed to taking appropriate action. We can confirm that the officer remains suspended at this time while we consider the outcome of the hearing."