A 32-year-old policeman who faked illness three times so he could go horse racing was sacked yesterday evening (July 18th).

PC Jonathan Adams, who lives in Ross-on-Wye, had denied gross misconduct and told a disciplinary hearing at Gloucestershire Police HQ that he was genuinely ill but went racing as a form of therapy for his stress, migraines, and irritable bowel syndrome.

PC Adam's misconduct hearing started on Monday, July 17th. He had gone to three race meetings - two at Nottingham and one at Royal Ascot - after phoning in sick. At Royal Ascot he was filmed on Channel 4 joyfully celebrating the win of a horse owned by an owners’ syndicate of which he is a member.

The panel chairman said PC Adams had acted "entirely for personal gain" in shirking work for the pleasures of the races and there was no reason to pull back from the ultimate sanction of dismissal without notice.Yesterday afternoon, a retired city police chief inspector, Richard Burge, who now runs the CitySafe scheme in Gloucester, gave a character evidence for PC Adams and praised him for his honesty and diligence - and for his work halting a period of ‘lawlessness’ in the centre of Gloucester.My Burge told the tribunal that he first met PC Adams last August when he joined a new community policing team in the city.In the two years leading up to that, he said the city had been hit by a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour which was causing major concern to businesses. That had developed because police officers were not being seen out and about in the city, he said.“We had a large number of beggars and shoplifters who were getting out of control. Myself and the directors of CitySafe and the businesses were actually referring to Gloucester as almost becoming lawless. There was no doubt that something needed to be done. It was really really important that we had a police presence back in the city.“PC Adams then became my main contact for the new community policing team. There was an immediate impact. I am not easily impressed after my 30 years in the police service but straightaway I was really impressed with PC Adams. He was enthusiastic, which I always want a police officer to be. He was hard working, he was interested and he was always out and about. He was very visible.”