A FORMER Gwent police officer was today struck off for milking a lonely widower out of more than £34,000 and gifts including a BMW car, jewellery, and holidays abroad.

Former PC Fatou Mendy-Sambou, 28, was barred from from the police after a disciplinary hearing was told she received lavish gifts from the 87-year-old man in the three years after the death of his wife.

The man helped her with cash towards a police training course – but she is now banned from police work over the "inappropriate relationship."

Former Gwent Police probationer PC Mendy-Sambou was accused of gross misconduct after she took cash worth £34,670.18 from the widower.

A disciplinary hearing at Gwent Police HQ in Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran, was told Mendy-Sambou first met the married pensioner while working as a carer for his wife in 2014.

But when his wife died in 2015, Mendy-Sambou visited his home and sparked regular contact with him, on the phone and going out for meals.

The hearing was told Mendy-Sambou got including weekly payments of £50, a £2,000 holiday to Paris, flights to Gambia, £2,700 for a Master's degree and £9,000 for a BMW.

She was also given a deposit for a house, and £750 towards a police training course, for a new career by the widower identified only as Mr JB.

She also had a £320 Michael Kors watch for her birthday and a silver necklace from Sri Lanka, along with a washing machine, cooker and even a fish tank.

The hearing was told Mendy-Sambou became a probationary constable for Gwent Police in March 2018 after gaining her Masters degree.

The relationship continued until it came to light in August 2018 while she was working for the Welsh police force.

In the case, brought by the presenting officer Kate Connell, the force said: "You accepted money and gifts from him amounting to many thousands of pounds and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with him.

"When questioned about these events you initially lied about your contact with JB, dishonestly inventing false stories about the sources of your money to try and conceal the extent of your financial gain.

"You did this because you knew that your actions in forming and exploiting the relationship with JB were wholly wrong.

"Your actions in initiating and developing an inappropriate relationship with JB amounted to an abuse of trust and lacked integrity in breach of the standard of honesty and integrity.

"Your conduct as a whole, if known, would bring serious discredit on the police service and undermine public confidence in it, in breach of the standard of discreditable conduct. Your conduct is so serious as to amount to gross misconduct."

The hearing at Gwent Police HQ in Cwmbran, South Wales, was told she did it to hide the extent of her financial gain.

Panel chair Susan Davies said: "We are agreed that Miss Mendy-Sambou, had she continued to be a police officer, would have been dismissed without notice."

The hearing was told Mendy-Sambou, of Newport, resigned from Gwent Police in August last year.

Maria Henry, representing the former PC, said: "She admits she behaved in the manner alleged."

The hearing was told Mendy-Sambou admitted that her actions amounted to gross misconduct and her name will now be added to the police barred list.