Northamptonshire police officer dismissed for selling Auschwitz relics on eBay

A Northamptonshire police officer has been found to have committed gross misconduct by selling Auschwitz and Nazi relics on eBay.

Pc Matt Hart faced four allegations relating to the selling of historical items linked to the Second World War, specifically items connected to Auschwitz and the Third Reich.

It was claimed that the officer had breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to "discreditable conduct and orders and instructions".

The officer had sold barbed wire and items described as "fence insulators"during the early part of last year, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Pc Hart denied the accusations but a panel found the allegations relating tothe sale of items on eBay proven as gross misconduct, following a disciplinary hearing earlier this month.

In the written outcome, published on Tuesday, the panel said Pc Hart had shown an "extreme lack of judgment and insensitivity".

It said that the most suitable outcome was dismissal without notice.

The panel made clear that there was no evidence of any criminality by Pc Hart nor was there any evidence that his activities were driven by "extremistright-wing views, sympathies with or allegiance to Nazi or Neo-Nazi ideology".

It said that it recognised and accepted Pc Hart had a genuine historicalinterest in that period of history but found "what had been taken and done was insensitive and inappropriate in the extreme".

It added: "The officer has a very respectable service record which we acknowledge together with an impressive set of commendations. "He is not malicious or racist. He is not a danger to the public."

A further allegation that Pc Hart had also sold knives was found not proven,the panel said.

Pc Hart has a right of appeal, it added.