A female detective has been sacked for farting while on duty and using foul language.
Forty-four-year-old Detective Constable Claire Fitzpatrick repeatedly used the word 'c**t' while working; she also asked a junior member of staff if he wanted an affair with a 'fatter, ugly, older woman' and asked a female colleague if she had any 'cream for thrush' while in the station.
She was pulled up before a disciplinary hearing where she admitted to farting outside a sergeant's office but maintained that she didn't do it deliberately. She told the hearing her bad language was just part of a 'culture of banter' at the station.
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The mum-of-two said: "I would joke about it. Sometimes I would speak like the character Borat or use a silly voice to say: 'Rather out than in'."
She was accused of a whopping 25 counts of inappropriate behaviour, which amounted to gross misconduct. She has been dismissed from the Gwent Police Force where she'd worked for 22 years.
At the hearing in Cwmbran, South Wales she told the panel that the word 'c**t' had replaced the word 'fuck' as her 'swear word of choice'.
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The hearing was told that Fitzpatrick once arrested a motorist and told him: "You're driving like a c**t'.
She said: "The officer with me said: 'Sergeant, you can't say that to him'."
"I took a deep breath with my head in my hands and said I'm sorry to the driver."
Nick Gedge, who represented Fitzpatrick, told the panel she had never faced allegations of misconduct before, adding: "She would often make herself the butt of the jokes to jolly along an atmosphere as it were."
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Fitzpatrick's colleagues described her as having a 'unique sense of humour' and being 'crude with her comments'. An email from a colleague told Fitzpatrick to 'apply the filter occasionally'.
The hearing also heard that the team was short-staffed and could be seen as 'difficult to manage'.
Fitzpatrick admitted to the panel she had used foul language but said she hadn't used it in a demeaning way.
"When you read these allegations, you hang your head in embarrassment and shame," she said.
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"You read that and you almost gasp and go: 'Who is this individual'.
"Having hit this position that I'm in has made me realise how much I need to change. How much I need to be a better person."
Following the hearing, Fitzpatrick was dismissed.
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A spokesperson for the force said: "The allegations were found proven and panel decided that the officer would be dismissed without notice."
Featured Image Credit: Wales News ServiceTopics: Police, UK News, crime