A powerlifting champion police sergeant, from the Isle of Wight, held a male detainee by the neck at Newport Police Station because he was deemed to have 'aggressively' looked at another officer.

Sgt Simon Lythgoe has been found guilty of two counts of using force with detainees that was unnecessary, unreasonable and disproportionate in the circumstances.

Sgt Lythgoe had been appearing at a misconduct hearing in Eastleigh.

CCTV footage of two incidents were shown to the panel. The first which occurred in January last year, saw a man - referred to as Mr B - in front of a custody desk at Newport Police Station.

Sgt Lythgoe was sitting behind the desk when Mr B said: "My trousers are falling down. Can you loosen my left handcuff, please?

"I have been asking for five hours, you're taking the p**s."

Isle of Wight County Press:

Footage showed Sgt Lythgoe rising from his chair, approaching the man and lifting him up 'by the scruff of his neck' to remonstrate about the way he had looked at another officer.

The sergeant said to Mr B: "I don't like it. You don't look aggressively at my colleague."

During the footage, Sgt Lythgoe is heard to say: 'Do you understand that I am in charge? If you don't hear what I say there will be consequences', 'shut up and stand up' and 'he's not f***ing hard'.

Matthew Holdcroft, prosecuting, told the hearing he was a 'bully' and 'that wasn't the language of a caring and compassionate custody sergeant'.

Sgt Lythgoe has served as an officer with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary for '25 or so' years and in 2018, broke a bench pressing world record by pushing 231kg.

CCTV footage of another incident, the following month, was shown to the hearing.

In this, a female detainee called Ms A was said to have been held down by Sgt Lythgoe and three other officers.

She is heard to scream at him, 'Don't f***ing use force against me', 'Don't f***ing use force', 'Oww, oww, oww'.

Sgt Lythgoe tells Ms A he does not tolerate violence against staff and she responds to him, saying 'I am not trying to be violent. I have not tried to be violent towards you'.

Mr Holdcroft told the panel that Ms A had a documented history of mental health problems which was recorded on the police system Sgt Lythgoe had access to.

He said: "She has PTSD. She had been subject to years of physical abuse in a previous relationship.

"This is important because that is a trigger and more importantly, she had depression and anxiety because of the death of her daughter who had died one year before the date of her arrest."

He added: "It is obvious from the moment the Sergeant walked into that cell that he was the trigger.

"He is the flame that lit the fire and he simply wasn't meant to be there."

Sgt Lythgoe accepted excessive force was used in the incident involving Ms A, but said it was a 'difficult situation' and was necessary in the circumstances to ensure a safe withdrawal from the cell for him and the other officers.

Although he denied the charges he was found guilty on Wednesday of gross misconduct on all counts.

His sanction will be determined today (Thursday).