'Having sex on duty is like taking a tea break': Why armed policeman who had 40-minute tryst with another man's wife while on patrol kept his job

                            

An armed policeman who had sex on duty with a loaded gun in a holster attached to his belt has kept his job after a tribunal concluded it was similar to an officer taking a break to buy a cup of tea.

PC Shaun Jenkins, 36, was on patrol with Gwent Police in 2010 when he picked up another man's wife for a 40-minute tryst.

He took his mistress back to his home in Caerphilly, South Wales, while a colleague waited outside. 

But a report into his conduct found the act did not pose a risk to public safety because he could have been back within 'a minute or two'.

An appeals tribunal report into the incident, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation by The Times, concluded that it was 'the sort of delay that will occur if an officer goes to the toilet or into a café to buy a cup of tea'.

The tribunal overturned the original decision by the Gwent Police panel to dismiss PC Jenkins, who is now a neighbourhood beat officer after he was stripped of his firearms licence. 

Jenkins, who has won two awards for his bravery, was initially sacked by the force in 2011 for gross misconduct.

But he was allowed to keep his job after an appeal concluded his gun was never out of his control because he could reach it while it was in the holster by his ankles.

It also found he was still able to protect the public because he was contactable by radio.