A police officer who successfully won an appeal against a conviction for downloading indecent images of children has been sacked for gross misconduct.

PC Adam Holbrook, 30, who served in Waltham Forest, was dismissed without notice on Friday following a misconduct hearing.

A panel found him guilty of two counts of gross misconduct betweeen July 2012 and May 2012, and from February 2012 and April 2012.    

During both periods, the 30 year-old had accessed and used inappropriate websites, although the nature of the website has not been disclosed by the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Holbrook, of Corporation Road in Chelmsford, was convicted of making 16 level 1 indecent images of children in May last year.

In December, his lawyers later successfully argued on appeal that he had downloaded the images by accident while searching for images of adults on the website Prime Jail Bait.

Following the disciplinary hearing on Friday, detective superintendent Steve Wagstaff, directorate of professional standards, said: "I am appalled by this officer's behaviour.

"Whilst he won an appeal against a conviction at court, the panel found that on the balance of probability that the officer's underlying behaviour was discreditable and breached the standards of professional behaviour.

"He has therefore been dismissed from the service without notice." 

Holbrook won an award for his efforts following the fatal shooting of Richie Holmes in Chingford in 2005.