A police officer convicted of assault by beating has been dismissed from her force without notice.

An accelerated misconduct hearing found that police constable Rachael Kimber’s behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

PC Kimber has now been placed on the barred list after chair Chief Constable Winton Keenan found she took a “very significant risk” with the reputation of the force and caused harm to a victim, which was described as on the “lesser end of the scale of physical violence.”

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He said: “I wish to make it clear that I do not suggest the officer set out to deliberately cause harm to the force. However, the undeniable reality is that this has been the actual and further potential outcome.

“There is an understandable expectation of the public that police officers will act at all times in ways that do not discredit the public service to which they dedicate their working lives – and with that, comes the expectation they will not behave in ways that they would otherwise find themselves taking action towards if they were to encounter such behaviours being demonstrated by others, including colleagues and members of the public.

“This has always been the case and indeed is now perhaps the case more than ever before, as policing finds itself in a period of recognisably increased and elevated levels of expectations from the public; regarding behaviours of serving officers towards setting and achieving the high standards of behaviour to be expected of them by wider society”.

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The hearing found PC Kimber’s wrongdoing was confined to a single episode while off duty and that she “openly and frankly” admitted the behaviour at the earliest stages and continued to adopt a position of “openness and honesty” during proceedings.

Chief Constable Keenan added: “This, together with her acceptance of responsibility and her self-documented acknowledgement/apology to her colleagues for what has resulted from the activities she engaged in whilst off-duty, tends to demonstrate many of the positive elements of her character and indeed, those to be found in an effective and well-conducted constable, ones she no doubt sought to bring to bear to the benefit of others whilst she was a serving officer.”

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