A Norfolk police officer who admitted "despicable" offending related to indecent images of children has been dismissed without notice.

George Ince, 26, a Great Yarmouth-based officer, has pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, three counts of distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Ince, from Stalham, admitted the offences, which happened between May 2019 and July 2020, at Norwich Magistrates Court earlier this month and is due to appear at the crown court for sentence next week.

On Thursday (August 26) the officer was dismissed without notice at an accelerated misconduct hearing lasting less than 10 minutes.

The hearing, held at Norfolk Police’s Wymondham headquarters, heard Ince, who did not attend, had admitted the “despicable" offences.

Dismissing the officer without notice, Norfolk’s acting chief constable Paul Sanford said: “PC Ince has admitted a series of charges relating to indecent image offences.

“Those images were the digital record of children being abused in the most awful of circumstances.

“Persons who access such images are both exploiting and worsening the suffering of victims of child abuse.

“I find his offending to be despicable.

“By admitting these offences, PC Ince has made his position in the constabulary completely untenable.

“I expect the utmost professionalism and highest personal standards from officers and PC Ince’s conduct does not represent the commitment, dedication and integrity demonstrated by his former colleagues across the force each day.

“There is no place in the organisation for behaviour like this”.

Ince, who had been suspended from duty as a police officer since July 2020, will be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on August 31.

The former Yarmouth officer had pleaded not guilty to a further count of attempting to cause/incite the sexual exploitation of a child when he appeared before city magistrates at the beginning of August.

In a statement released after the hearing, Mr Sanford said: "It’s very disappointing to be in this position; dismissing an officer for the very offences that they should be protecting people from.

"We take sexual offences extremely seriously and are committed to bringing offenders to justice. When one of those offenders is a police officer, it discredits the service and undermines public confidence."