The officer, while on duty and partially in uniform, accessed police systems from Crook police station in April last year. This breached force policy, which forbids using police systems for personal, private, or non-business purposes. The former officer's conduct was determined to be gross misconduct, undermining public confidence in the police service. He accepted the allegations against him, acknowledged his actions constituted gross misconduct and put forward an apology. Durham Police said Holmes would have been aware that using the force system for non-policing purposes was forbidden.