A police misconduct panel cleared a former Avon & Somerset officer accused of having sex with a vulnerable woman while on duty because it accepted his claims that he was the victim, it has been revealed.

Ex-sergeant Lee Cocking allegedly took advantage of a drunken female who he offered to take home after she was ejected from Skinny Dippers night spot in Weston-super-Mare for causing trouble.

At the end of a two-week misconduct hearing, the panel found no wrongdoing by the married father of two during the incident in the early hours of Christmas Eve, 2017, but no reasons were given when the decision was announced on Friday, August 26.

The full findings, which have now been published, say that on the balance of probabilities the panel accepted it was more likely that Mr Cocking, 41, was the victim of a sexual assault by the woman during the journey in his unmarked constabulary car than it was that sex was consensual.

It also criticises the investigation into the case for failing to pursue a number of lines of enquiry which, the ruling says, indicate officers had already concluded "who was a victim and who was a perpetrator before a thorough and balanced investigation took place".

The 27-page outcome notice said: "The lines of enquiry… could have led away from Mr Cocking's guilt or towards it."

The woman involved, who cannot be named for legal reasons, referred to as Ms A, declined to take part in the hearing.

She has never claimed the ex-sergeant sexually assaulted her.

The decision said: "At first blush Mr Cocking's case is difficult to believe.

"The panel appreciates that the headline of this case is that a sober police officer had sexual contact with a drunken woman to whom he was giving a lift home.

"The most immediate conclusion is that he is at fault.

"By setting out the evidence which we have heard… and by explaining the holes in that evidence (most notably the absence of Ms A herself) we have sought to explain why it is that we cannot say, on the balance of probabilities, that that headline is an accurate summary of the story.

"The question is about whether or not the contact was consensual.

"The easy, swift conclusion is that it must have been because a man in a car is not a likely victim of sexual assault by a drunken woman.

"Closer analysis of the facts of this particular case and the evidence as it now stands, without Ms A, leads us to the conclusion that it is not possible to say on the balance of probabilities that the sex was consensual and it is certainly not possible to say that Mr Cocking is lying.

"Bearing in mind all that we know of Ms A's conduct earlier in the evening and Mr Cocking's mental health and his own conduct earlier that evening in terms of his dealings with Ms A which show no sign of attraction, we find that his version is more likely to be true than the suggestion that the sex between them was consensual."

The decision said the former officer accepted sexual activity took place but that he claimed he was "assaulted by her and that he was unable to stop her doing what she wanted to do to him because he suffers, and was then suffering, from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], anxiety and depression".

It said after the woman was thrown out of the nightclub, Mr Cocking, of Cheddar, told her he would give her a lift home if she waited for him by the Grand Pier and that he "fairly" made the point in his evidence that arranging to meet her at a "well-lit seafront location amply covered in CCTV" was a "strange decision" if he had something illicit in mind.

The ruling said his offer of a lift to a drunken woman alone with no money for a taxi after 3am was "pragmatic policing" and he would "properly have been subject to criticism for not having kept an eye on her".

"The panel does not conclude that it is more likely than not that Mr Cocking offered Ms A a lift home in the hope or expectation that there would be some kind of sexual liaison on the way," the outcome said.

It said it was "clear, immediately" from Mr Cocking's police interview in January 2018 following his arrest that he was making a complaint of sexual assault.

"Mr Cocking's allegation made her a suspect. She was not treated as one," the ruling said.

"No account was taken from her under caution, no doubt because the fear was that to caution her would be to silence her.

"We contrast this with the perceived need to arrest Mr Cocking rather than to ask him to attend a police station by arrangement.

"It is clear to us that there was never any intention to treat her as a suspect."

During the two-week hearing at police headquarters in Portishead, the ex-officer said he felt "numb" and had "complete panic" as the woman jumped across from the front passenger seat, straddled him and attempted to have sex, having taken her trousers and underwear partway down.

Mr Cocking, who retired from the force in July on medical grounds, was acquitted by a Gloucester Crown Court jury last year of a criminal charge of misconduct in a public office following an 11-day trial.

An earlier jury trial in Cirencester failed to agree a verdict.

The police misconduct panel ruled that he did not breach standards of professional behaviour for police officers in relation to honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct.

After the decision on Friday, Deputy Chief Constable Nikki Watson said she was "disappointed" but respected the ruling.

The panel was led by a legally qualified chair who is independent of policing.