hero police officer has been sacked for stealing a kayak and a set of paddles which he then tried to sell on eBay.

PC Andrew Hamilton was caught after Nottingham Kayak Club members spotted that one of their boats, which had gone missing in May, was for sale online.

They bid for the items in an undercover sting and confronted Hamilton, who had been awarded for bravery just months before, at his home.

At first the police officer lied that he had got the kayak from Scotland, before claiming he thought it had been thrown out.

But Hamilton admitted the allegations and was dismissed without notice after a police misconduct hearing at Lincolnshire Police headquarters yesterday.

The hearing came after the officer, who served in Grantham, was convicted of two counts of theft between May 1 and July 9 when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court on August 8.

Dismissing him, Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police Neil Rhodes said:

I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities the officer’s conduct amounts to gross misconduct. Let me be clear I understand the impact on the officer will be massive. But there can be no place in the police service for an officer who demonstrated such unequivocally disingenuous behaviour.

The disciplinary panel heard about the undercover sting mounted by by Nottingham Kayak Club.

Solicitor Matt Greene, representing Lincolnshire Police, said: ‘A woman’s daughter who attended the club noticed her kayak was missing.

Her mother asked people round the club and was told a kayak matching her description was on eBay.

The kayak was bid on by another member of the kayak club and was arranged to be collected from the home address of the seller.

Hamilton, who was not present at the hearing, also stole a set of paddles which he sold for £142.

Read the full story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3758563/Hero-police-officer-sacked-stealing-kayak-paddles-trying-sell-eBay.html