A HAMPSHIRE policeman acted as a “sexual adventurer” by using the force computer to access women’s details, a court heard.

PC Robert Campbell told one woman he would post up pictures of her in her underwear at the police station if her husband, a wanted man, did not give himself up.

He pursued four women, who were all vulnerable or victims of crime, and even threatened one of them with prison when she turned him down.

He even ended up in a relationship with one of his targets and was alleged to have made more electronic inquiries on her behalf.

Judge Peter Moss said he was baffled that Campbell had been employed as a police officer and he had shattered people’s confidence in his force.

He handed Campbell an |18-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £1,200 costs for misusing his office computer system to access details of women he met through his job.

Campbell, who worked in the force’s Central Operational Command Unit, had pleaded guilty to the unauthorised use of a computer at an earlier hearing.

The 42-year-old, of Chadworth Crescent, Portsmouth, had been due to face a retrial on four charges of wilful misconduct in a public office, but they were dropped, the court heard.

Guildford Crown Court was told that Campbell would be handing in his resignation to Hampshire Police, where he was taken off frontline duties, at a disciplinary hearing next week.

Judge Moss said: “You were a police officer, you accessed the force computer because you were a sexual adventurer.

“You accessed the internal computer’s records for your own purposes in relation to a young lady who you had some sexual conversation with and in relation to a lot of other women you were chasing around – people who had telephoned the police, members of the public, witnesses, people involved in road accidents.

“All their records are properly stored to respect their privacy and you breached that and it undermines public confidence in the police records by you doing that.”

Sean Minihan, mitigating, told the court that Campbell’s |marriage had fallen apart prior to committing the offence.

A Hampshire Police spokesman said after the |hearing that the investigation into Campbell began following a complaint from a member of |the public.

Det Insp Dave Morgan, from Hampshire police’s anti-corruption unit, said: “The conviction of PC Campbell demonstrates that we take seriously allegations about illegal behaviour of our staff.

“In this case PC Campbell accessed data held within our force’s records management system for his own personal use, which is unlawful.

“As a result of this conviction, we will now consider whether PC Campbell should face formal disciplinary action in accordance with the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2008.”

Campbell declined to comment as he left court.