A DISGRACED police officer who feigned sickness while secretly holidaying in Majorca has been banned from the profession. 

Former police constable Nicholas Corbett skipped work under the pretence of recovering from a back injury, when in fact he was relaxing on the Spanish island.

The PC was based at the force's Kidlington headquarters and had fed a string of lies to his superiors.

He claimed he struggled to ride a bike and could not fly on plane journeys longer than 90 minutes due to a back injury caused by a crash in 2014.

Police said there was no dispute he had a back injury, but he was known to have been cycling during his time in Majorca.

On October 13 last year Mr Corbett failed to turn up for his shift, prompting his inspector to text him asking if he was coming in.

Mr Corbett responded stating he was unable to because of his back injury - when in fact he was relaxing in the sun. 

His bosses discovered his true whereabouts and Mr Corbett quit the force after being confronted about the holiday. 

He also deleted his account on an app called Strava, which tracks users' athletic activity via satellite navigation. 

Police have clarified it was not Mr Corbett's Strava account that led to the suspicions about his actual location. 

A misconduct hearing took place at the Kidlington headquarters on Monday and Tuesday as a result of his behaviour.

A panel found his actions amounted to gross misconduct and breached standards of professional behaviour concerning honesty and integrity.

The breaches were in connection with statements made by Mr Corbett in evidence to a Police Medical Appeals Board. 

The panel concluded Mr Corbett would have been dismissed had he still been a serving officer and his details should be placed on the College of Policing's barred list.

Detective chief superintendent Chris Ward, head of the professional standards department, said: "I am sure most of TVP would agree that there is no room in this organisation for somebody who behaves as this former officer has.

"Thankfully the vast majority of our staff are hardworking and dedicated.

"Where we become aware of someone behaving in this way we will be relentless in carrying out a thorough investigation."