A COP who jammed a key down on his computer to make bosses think he was busy while working from home has been banned for life.
Det Con Niall Thubron, 33, used the trick to make it appear he was making lots of keystrokes in his job to bring down organised crime gangs.
Thubron, who has since resigned from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit, was caught out when a counter-corruption unit audited the police network.
A tribunal heard a single character on his keyboard was held down for 45 hours of the 85 hours he was supposed to work between December 3 last year and January 13.
The misconduct panel at Peterlee, Co Durham, yesterday banned him from police work for life.
Durham‘s Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said: “This was a deliberate act and a deliberate breach of standards.
“He knew avoiding work was wrong and key jamming was also wrong, this was a case of deliberate dishonesty.
“There are police officers who are able to work from home.
“To those very few who might look to take advantage of that, this case will be a stark warning that they will be caught and the consequences will be career ending.”
Thubron, a high risk investigations officer with the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU), did not attend the hearing.
He has never explained what he was doing while pretending to be working.
