A POLICE officer has been sacked after pulling clumps of a woman's hair out during a drunken pub brawl.

PC Joanne Haslam was arrested after the fight, in a Redcar pub, and taken to a police van, where she yelled at fellow Cleveland Police officers: "You're all f****** b*******," and then, when cautioned, told the officer: "You're a f****** slag."

The Guisborough neighbourhood officer, who joined the force in 2003, was arrested and later found guilty of common assault and being drunk and disorderly at Newcastle Magistrates Court last March.

And yesterday Chief Constable Iain Spittal decided in a public discreditable conduct hearing at the force's Middlesbrough headquarters that PC Haslam had not upheld the standards expected of a police officer, and should be dismissed.

The officer has been suspended for over two years, since her arrest on December 30 2014.

Detective Constable Chris Keightley, reading out a statement, said: "Police officers were flagged down by a group of people outside the Stockton public house.

"Officers spoke with a female who identified herself... and she informed them she had been assaulted whilst inside the pub. The woman alleged that the suspect had attacked her while drinking in the pub and she had been pulled to the floor by her hair."

Officers described PC Haslam as being "extremely intoxicated, her speech was slurred and she was unsteady on her feet".

PC Haslam, who was off-duty, had claimed she was attempting to apprehend a thief who had been going through someone's jacket pockets, and had acted in self-defence.

But her claims were dismissed by Mr Spittal as he said there was no evidence to suggest this.

It also emerged that she did not attend her Newcastle court case due to health issues, and had not appealed against the conviction.

A statement from her Police Federation representative said she had been dealing with mental health issues after the breakdown of her marriage, and had started to abuse alcohol.

Mr Spittal ruled that the way PC Haslam had acted amounted to gross misconduct and should lead to her dismissal.

He said: "It is my firmly-held view that the public would expect that an officer that has behaved in this manner and convicted of criminal assault, would be removed from service. They would rightly be outraged if she remained in service. PC Haslam is dismissed with immediate effect."