SHAMED former policeman Simon Abell has been spared jail after he flirted with a woman on Facebook, describing her as a "sexy lady" and sending her two kisses.
Then a Sutton-in-Ashfield-based officer, he told the woman he "remembered her in an instant", when she contacted him on the social networking site.
After meeting innocently after she made an allegation about a man, Abell, 42, had sent her text messages that were not inappropriate.
But months later she reinitiated contact on Facebook, and Abell, who had more than 23 years police service, replied with the "sexy lady" message and signed off with "LOL".
Abell was arrested and pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office after he sent sexually inappropriate texts and Facebook messages to the woman, who was no longer a potential witness, between November 4, 2011, and February 13, 2012.
He denied two further charges of misconduct in a public office relating to the same victim, who cannot be identified.
Those charges alleged he engaged in sexually inappropriate behaviour with her between November 4, 2011, and December 31, 2011, and on August 2, 2012, all when he was a policeman. The pleas were accepted by the prosecution.
Judge Michael Stokes QC gave Abell a six-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and 150 hours of unpaid work.
He told him: "You were at the relevant time and had been for more than 20 years a serving police officer. It is always a matter of regret and gravity when a police officer offends in this way."
Prosecutor Tina Dempster told the hearing on Friday the matters came to light after another individual contacted a police inspector in Mansfield and handed him a CD of screen shots of Facebook showing communication between Abell and the woman.
More than 80 messages were sent by him to her and more than 30 were sent by the woman, who cannot be identified.
Harpreet Sandhu, in mitigation, said Abell, a devoted father, had resigned from the force and now suffers from clinical depression.
He said: "He has become a little agoraphobic in the last 18 months. His partner is standing by him, as is his wife and a number of others who provide their continuing support."
