A trainee police officer drew red lines on a Covid-19 test strip in a bid to get time off work, a misconduct hearing was told.

       Ahmed Anwari told his training officer last December that he had to stay at home because of a positive lateral flow test result.

       His deception was uncovered though when he was asked to send a photograph of the result as proof and it became “clear that the test had been manually altered with drawn red lines”.

       The Lancashire Constabulary officer was then invited to take a coronavirus test on a Microsoft Teams meeting in which he again falsely claimed the result was positive.

       Police officers must keep in mind at all times that the public expect them to maintain high standards of professional behaviour

       Chief Constable Chris Rowley

       Recommended Lord Geidt must be replaced ‘to avoid damaging questions’ - live

       When confronted, Mr Anwari admitted falsifying the results and lying about them as he stated he did it so he could stay at home under the then self-isolation rules.

       He resigned from the force a day later.

       Chairing Monday’s hearing, Chief Constable Chris Rowley found that former officer 2568 Anwari had breached standards of professional behaviour and in doing so had committed gross misconduct.

       He said: “I find that had Mr Anwari still been a member of Lancashire Constabulary he would have been dismissed.

       “Police officers must keep in mind at all times that the public expect them to maintain high standards of professional behaviour.”

       Mr Anwari chose not to attend the hearing in Ormskirk and was not legally represented.