A police officer who held down keys on his laptop to make it look like he was working when he was not has been barred from policing.
PC Liam Reakes, who was based in Yeovil, was found to have committed gross misconduct at an Avon and Somerset Police panel hearing earlier.
The panel heard how, between June and September 2024, he weighed down his laptop's Z key at "regular intervals" for "considerable periods" of time, causing the loss of more than 100 hours' of police time.
He would have been sacked had he not already resigned from the force, and has now been banned from working in law enforcement again.
Mr Reakes was caught after an internal audit of keystrokes in September 2024 flagged his total as much higher than others doing similar jobs.
He did not attend the hearing, but admitted opening a blank Word document and holding down the Z key for long periods of time, denying this was to give a false impression he was working from home.
