A police officer has been sacked after driving a police car at almost three times the speed limit without being permitted to do so.

PC Jamie Pamplin, who served in the East Area command which covers Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge, was found to have committed misconduct by a panel.

It heard evidence that PC Pamplin drove at speeds of up to 88 miles per hour when driving from Fresh Wharf Custody Base in Barking to Farmway in Dagenham in response to an emergency call from a colleague.

A report on the outcome of his misconduct hearing said the details of the journey, which took place between 4.09 and 4.14am on Boxing Day 2020, were obtained from the car's incident data recorder.

A sergeant gave evidence to the panel that PC Pamplin reached 88mph when driving down Longbridge Road, which has a 30mph speed limit and is a residential road.

He also used his blue lights intermittently.

But, according to the report, PC Pamplin "had no training whatsoever on driving a police vehicle at speed".

"He was not authorised to drive a police vehicle in excess of the speed limit, nor to operate the vehicle's blue lights except in order to signal another vehicle to stop," the report said.

It added that his permit to drive a police car was found to be more than four months out of date at the time of the incident.

PC Pamplin admitted to the evidence against him but tried to explain his actions.

The report said he described hearing an urgent assistance call from another constable, in which it sounded like she was "being strangled", and was worried for her safety.

A second call asking for emergency assistance was made by her partnering officer, the report added.

It said PC Pamplin tried to justify driving at excessive speed and using blue lights as "he believed his colleagues were in danger".

But the panel disputed this claim and found he had committed misconduct.

It said: "Even though it was 4am and Tier 4 Covid restrictions meant
that there was even less traffic than there might have been otherwise, there was still a serious risk of harm to members of the public who might have been in the path of PC Pamplin's BMW."

He had already received a final written warning in January 2021 relating to a separate incident of proven misconduct.

"The only outcome available" for the panel was to dismiss PC Pamplin.