A POLICE officer who raped a woman after a night out has been sacked following a misconduct hearing.

PC Richard Hale, 35, who was based at Bicester, was dismissed last Tuesday following his conviction of one count of rape on October 12.

He was jailed for seven years.

Oxford Crown Court heard during the trial that Hale had attacked his victim at Peel Place, Carterton, after overpowering her in his bedroom after a night out in December 2001.

Deputy Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police John Campbell, said: "A serving police officer receiving a criminal conviction for rape brings discredit on the Force and is completely unacceptable when we are responsible for protecting the public from harm."

During his trial the court heard how Hale, who joined the police force in 2003, had picked up his victim from Cheltenham before they went on to a pub in Witney and then a club together.

At the trial Judge Ross said that shortly afterwards the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, decided Hale was “not the person for her.”

Regardless, the judge said, Hale had decided he was “going to engage in sexual activity with her and decided that would take place consensually or non-consensually.”

The woman told a friend about her ordeal the next day but did not report what had happened to police until June 2012.

Sentencing Hale, Judge Ross said: “The events of the night of December 3, 2001 have had an utterly corrosive effect on her and her relationships.

“Ultimately it seems that the serious psychological problems this caused led to the ending of her marriage.

“It is awful that your actions so many years before contributed to the end of what was an otherwise loving marriage.”