A Bristol police officer who punched a man in a bar while off-duty has been warned he faces the sack after being found to have committed gross misconduct.

PC Jedd Perry struck the man twice in the face on a work night out in August 2021 because he believed his girlfriend, also a constable, was being "sexually assaulted" on the Green House dancefloor.

An Avon & Somerset police misconduct panel ruled on Friday (November 4) after a four-day hearing that his actions were unreasonable and unjustified and amounted to gross misconduct "serious enough to justify dismissal".

Pc Perry had admitted misconduct but denied gross misconduct, insisting he was right to take drastic steps when he saw the man laying his hand on the lower back of PC Jennifer Daly, who he was in the early stages of a relationship with.

He was cleared of gross misconduct on a second count of making a discriminatory comment along the lines of "Why don't you go back to your own country" to a female colleague of Romanian heritage 12 days before the incident at the city centre pub on College Green.

PC Perry admitted misconduct on that allegation, which the panel accepted along with his explanation that he had actually said "It's a long Uber back to Romania" in a poor attempt to make a joke to ease the tension after the pair had just had a row in his flat at the end of a night out.

Announcing the decision, Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) Adrian Phillips said that while the man in the bar was causing a nuisance with his unwanted advances, "there would be no reasonable basis for a belief that PC Daly was being sexually assaulted".

He said: "The panel finds that PC Perry did not in fact hold that belief.

"The appropriate thing would have been to ask PC Daly if she needed any help.

"No physical force was necessary. PC Perry used excessive force."

Mr Phillips said PC Daly had worked for the police for five years, including as a tutor, and could have dealt with the situation herself, such as walking away or pushing the man away, but she had not, although she and two other women PCs with her tried to ignore him.

The LQC told the hearing at Avon & Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead that PC Perry, who was 21 at the time, had to be held back by other off-duty officers on the night out as he tried to continue the confrontation, resulting in a "melee".

"PC Perry's conduct amounts to gross misconduct," Mr Phillips said.

"The breach of the standards of professional behaviour is serious enough to justify dismissal."

PC Perry was also accused of leaving the scene after the incident spilled outside and failing to return to speak to attending officers, but the panel cleared him of this.

Mr Phillips said the comments PC Perry made to a constable of Romanian heritage in his city centre flat, after she said she was booking an Uber home, were "miscalculated and ill-judged rather than being deliberately, intentionally malicious or said with anger".

This was serious enough to justify disciplinary action, the panel chairman said.

The case was adjourned part-heard after the findings of fact on Friday afternoon and will resume on Tuesday, November 29, with submissions by barristers representing both the force and PC Perry on what sanction the panel should impose.