A former West Mercia Police officer has been sentenced after he was found guilty 'sexual touching' of a female under the age of sixteen.

Leighton Phillips, 34, who had been based at Market Drayton Police Station, was found guilty at the Nightingale Court at Swansea Civic Centre on Friday 18 September.

He had been charged with two counts of sexual touching on a female under 16.

Today (Thursday 15 October) he was sentenced to a 24 month community order; 20 days of rehabilitation; a three month curfew and must sign the sex offenders register for 5 years.

The incident happened while the former officer was off-duty on a train in March this year and was investigated by British Transport Police.

Following the conviction he resigned from the force.

A misconduct hearing was held by the Chief Constable yesterday (Wednesday 14 October) which found Ex-PC Phillips’ conduct amounted to gross misconduct and concluded that, had he still been a member of the force, he would have been dismissed.

He will also be placed on the College Of Policing Barred List and will not be employable within the UK Police Service.

Head of West Mercia Police Professional Standards Department, Superintendent Rebecca Love, said: “There is no doubt that Phillips’ actions have fallen far below the standards we, and quite rightly the public, would expect and as a result he will be placed on the College of Policing Barred List and will not be employable within the UK Police Service.

“The public must be able to have trust and confidence in the police service to uphold the law, and where behaviour undermines this, either on or off duty, I would like to offer my assurances to members of the public that appropriate action will be taken.”