The St Aldates police station-based constable was decorated for his work with the city’s homeless. He was said to have built up trust with ‘those who feel injustice or have a lack of confidence in the police’.

The citation was removed from the force’s website following his conviction, a spokesman said.

Finch, from Banbury, appeared before High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court today, pleading guilty to a single count of possession of extreme pornographic material.

By law, ‘extreme pornography’ is material that is ‘grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character’.

It can include videos or images showing acts that threaten a person’s life, depictions of rape, sexual acts that involve serious injury, intercourse with a corpse or sexual activity between a person and animal.

Court documents show Finch had been charged with possession on November 24 last year in Banbury of an SD memory card containing videos that portrayed ‘in an explicit and realistic way an act which resulted or was likely to result in serious injury’ to a person’s private parts.

The offence with which he has been charged carries a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment. A defendant is only placed on the sex offender register if they receive a jail sentence of more than two years.

Finch will be sentenced on September 19 at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court.

Thames Valley Police said the officer had resigned on Wednesday, two days before his court appearance. He had been suspended from duty since November last year.

Finch once topped the Oxfordshire category in the force’s Community Policing Awards in 2020.