A FORMER Gwent Police officer is fighting an allegation of failing to act with honesty and integrity during sick leave, by carrying out activities inconsistent with the level of pain he claimed to be suffering.

James Vaughan, a police constable with the force until he resigned last autumn, was on sick leave for more than three months from June 16 2017 with neck, shoulder and back pain linked to whiplash from an on-duty incident almost a year earlier.

A misconduct hearing at Gwent Police headquarters was told by Nick Wilcox, acting for the force, that PC Vaughan declared in his sickness declaration that "he had not worked or taken part in any activities not consistent with the reasons for his absence, and that the information provided was correct".

He had struggled to manage the pain, and could not sit or stand for more than 20 minutes without having to lie flat to relieve the symptoms. But the three-strong panel hearing the case was told that:

* August 2017 photographs taken from PC Vaughan's and his partner's Facebook pages show him involved in activities inconsistent with the reason for his absence from work;

* There were "numerous pictures" of him driving in July-August 2017 in which considerable distances were travelled;

* Surveillance footage from September 5 2017 showed him "conducting a number of activities inconsistent with the level of pain about which he has complained";

* On September 12 he drove to Bristol airport and could be seen carrying a large case, while showing no signs of distress or injury;

* On September 29 he was seen carrying a large holdall to playing fields, showing a football team how to warm up, jumping in the air, and running and jogging;

* Records also showed that in January 2017, he played in two football matches, against South Wales Police and North Wales Police.

It is alleged he fell below the appropriate standards of professional behaviour required, on a day or days from July 13-October 13 2017.

The saga began on July 14 2016, when the then PC Vaughan parked his police car in Buttermere Way, Old Barn Estate, Newport. Before he could get out, a rear side of the car was hit by a reversing taxi.

In a collision report, PC Vaughan wrote of having "slight" injuries, with "soreness to neck/shoulders and back". There was no visible damage to the police car and the taxi driver was not injured.

Gwent Police maintain that if PC Vaughan suffered at worst a minor whiplash injury, this would have lasted two-three months from July 2016, and this type of injury does not reappear.

The hearing was told by Mr Ronald Mifsud, an orthopaedic surgeon and whiplash expert who wrote a report on the medical evidence for Gwent Police, that symptoms experienced by Mr Vaughan "continued beyond what I would expect", in the case of a young, strong police officer involved in a low velocity whiplash incident.

He did not, he said, "understand the physiological mechanism that was the cause of so much pain for so long", and would himself in such a case, request an MRI scan and a psychological assessment to try to get to the bottom of it.

He said a scan would be much better at detecting a problem in a whiplash case, as it is a soft tissue injury, while the assessment might shed light on psychological issues that can "magnify" pain in a patient.

The hearing was told a scan and an assessment were not carried out in Mr Vaughan's case.

Jonathan Rees, on behalf of Mr Vaughan, said the latter's health problems stemming from the collision had not gone away, GP and physiotherapy notes from July 2016 on referring to ongoing issues including pain, muscle spasms, difficulty sleeping, and difficulty in wearing a stab vest.

He pointed out Mr Vaughan had been at work while these problems were continuing.

Proceeding.