'Sex joke' PC became Cottenham school safeguarding lead

A former police officer who was under investigation for sexual comments to colleagues and joking about the death of a fellow officer's mother became a school's safeguarding lead. PC Simon Taylor, 34, was found to have committed gross misconduct at a police disciplinary hearing this month and would have been dismissed had he not already resigned in August. In September he began working for Cottenham Village College. Cambridgeshire Police said its reference to the school stated he resigned during a live investigation and later confirmed it did not relate to children. The academy trust said correct recruitment processes were undertaken and Taylor was no longer an employee. The report submitted to the disciplinary hearing said Taylor "zoomed into a photograph of a female colleague's breasts in a photograph on her device", and "tried to high five another officer after reading an incident log". Taylor also "stated that he would have sex with a dog" - the report said - and had joked about the death of a colleague's mother while attending "a sudden death incident or driving past a dead animal in the road". It also set out a number of other offensive comments of a sexual nature. The report