A police sergeant has been sacked after being caught ignoring emergency calls to visit prostitutes instead.

Karl Cliff, 42, of Flint in Wales, was an officer with 17 years of "exemplary service" before his liaisons were uncovered.

His defence, that he was "suffering post traumatic disorder" because of "harrowing events" he had seen while serving in the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland between 1996 and 2001, went unheeded.

Cliff admitted misconduct in public office last month and was given an eight-month jail term suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 175 hours unpaid community work.

A Merseyside Police spokesman confirmed the officer had been sacked.

It is understood the force has previously suspended him.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Cliff had "pestered" one prostitute so much that she reported him to his colleagues, who were understood to be already suspicious.

Following the report, a surveillance operation was launched.

It is understood the sergeant regularly left his base in Wallasey to travel through the Mersey tunnel to fraternise with prostitutes in the city's red light district.

In the early hours of August 7, last year, Cliff ignored a 999 call to reports of an ongoing burglary, insisting he was behind his desk at Bromborough police station sorting out his emails.

It later transpired, that he was on his way to Liverpool city centre looking for sex.

He was eventually arrested after being caught with a prostitute in his car parked behind a B&Q store.

His only defence, that he was "suffering from depression and post traumatic disorder" because he served in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was rejeected.

The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe QC, told Cliff his actions had brought the force into "disrepute and ridicule".

(DS)