PROSECUTORS have explained the reason for deciding against prosecuting a Barrow police officer found with ‘extreme porn’ on his phone.

A police misconduct hearing found that PC Matt Simpson had committed gross misconduct in having sexual liaisons with a Barrow woman while on duty. He was dismissed without notice by the panel.

The hearing at police headquarters at Penrith also heard PC Simpson had a number of ‘extreme pornographic’ images and videos on his phone in a WhatsApp group chat called ‘Baldy Stag’.

These included a video of someone having sex with a snake and one of a stiletto heel being inserted into the tip of a penis.

It was not possible, the panel concluded, to determine whether PC Simpson viewed or ought to have known about the ‘utterly deplorable and completely offensive’ extreme porn videos.

During the hearing it was explained a case had been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) but PC Simpson had not been charged.

A spokeswoman for the CPS has now confirmed it was not deemed to be in the public interest to prosecute the officer.

“Decisions in all cases, including those involving allegations of criminal offences against police officers, are always taken in the same way, following the legal test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors and on the merits of the case,” the spokeswoman said.

“If either the evidential or public interest stage of the test is not the met the case should not proceed.

“In this case after a full review of the material and application of both stages of the code test the CPS decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute.”