THE behaviour of an armed police officer who had sex on duty with his loaded gun around his ankles was compared to him popping off duty to use the lavatory or into a cafe to buy a cup of tea.

PC Shaun Jenkins was dismissed by Gwent Police for gross misconduct after it received a complaint he had sex with a married woman while on armed patrol in Caerphilly in 2010. The complaint came from the woman’s husband.

However, PC Jenkins was reinstated in May last year after appealing to the Police Appeals Tribunal.

The statement of determination from this has now been released under the Freedom of Information Act, in which it states the panel on PC Jenkins’ misconduct hearing “inaccurately” judged the firearm was out of his control while he had sex.

It reads: “The firearm, in its holster, was attached to the appellant’s trousers and his trousers were still attached to the appellant, albeit they were down around his ankles. It was never out of his direct and immediate control.”

The statement also said he had not ‘significantly degraded’ public protection, as PC Jenkins was in radio contact with a colleague, who waited in a patrol car nearby.

It added: “There is nothing to suggest the appellant could not have been back in the police vehicle within a minute or two, the sort of delay that will occur if an officer goes to the lavatory or into a cafe to buy a cup of tea while on patrol.”

The report says that after a text message conversation, PC Jenkins and his colleague picked the woman up and took her to the house on April 10 2010, where they had consensual sex, which lasted around 40 minutes.

It was concluded by the Police Appeals Tribunal that PC Jenkins should be reinstated in the force as a PC, with him paid all money lost as a result of his dismissal.

Gwent Police was criticised by independent watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission last month for the way it handled the matter.

A report said the manner in which the complaint was handled was “unacceptable” and attempts to deal with it outside the formal regulations were “not good enough”.

IPCC Commissioner for Wales Tom Davies said the two errors were found in the original disciplinary process and said some findings by the Police Appeals Panel were surprising and could be seen to undermine public confidence in the credibility of the police discipline system.