A PREVIOUSLY commended police officer has been sacked after using an automatic number plate recognition camera to photograph a woman's cleavage as she sat in a pub beer garden.

Married PC David Smith had accused a colleague of using the camera to "zoom in to get closer footage" of the woman while she was sitting in at pub in October 2011 when in fact he had taken the footage himself and later downloaded the images on to his home computer.

A panel hearing held in a police station in Hull was also told that PC Smith also recorded video footage of a young woman in Harrogate police station, before downloading the software onto his personal computer in 2012.

PC Smith denied take the pictures and said: "I have got a clean record for working with vulnerable victims and I would not abuse that position."

Over his long-serving career 19 year career with Humberside Police, PC Smith was twice commended after rescuing a woman who was held at gunpoint in a taxi.

However, during the hearing, he was accused of falling "so far below the professional standards" that he was dismissed without notice.