A BRIDGWATER police officer has been sacked after being accused of stalking his ex-partner on social media.

PC Samuel Iddon, who is based in the town, faced a number of allegations of discreditable behaviour in 'digital stalking', and failed to be 'frank' about what he had done when it was reported to police.

In a hearing which took place on June 13 and 14 at Avon and Somerset Constabulary's head office at Portishead, it was found that Iddon had deliberately accessed his former partner's Facebook account after they had split.

It was also stated that he accessed her email account, took her phone and used it to track her and deleted all of its contents.

The panel heard that Iddon's actions had a 'devastating effect' on the female, not just in terms of the material she lost but also because of the violation of her privacy.

He was reported to the police, and the hearing heard how Iddon was 'not entirely frank in either of his police interviews, nor indeed before the panel, as to the full nature and extent of his conduct' and 'adopted a tactic of confess and avoid.'

A police spokesman said: "Although he may not have set out to harass and intimidate her, that was undoubtedly the effect of his actions.

"It is unsurprising that his former partner considered this to be controlling behaviour."

Separately, PC Iddon admitted that on January 13 2016, he accepted a police caution in respect of his behaviour.

The spokesman added: "The Panel found that PC Iddon breached Professional Standards by accessing his former partner’s social media accounts, reading her private messages, changing her account settings and deleting her information secretly and without permission.

"By his continued challenge to important aspects of his former partner’s account, and his reluctance to accept the extent of his intrusion into her personal life, he did not allow the Panel to mitigate his behaviour by treating it as an uncharacteristic, isolated and immediately regretted example of misjudgement made in a maelstrom of high emotion.

"In the absence of such mitigation, the panel were driven to find that the behaviour demonstrates a lack of integrity and so constitutes a breach in respect of honesty and integrity.

"The panel found a separate breach in respect of honesty and integrity arose from the lack of candour displayed by PC Iddon in his police interviews.

"The panel found that on balance that the breaches of Professional Standards whether looked at cumulatively or severally amount to gross misconduct and that he be dismissed without notice."