A former police officer has been sent to prison after seducing a woman while she was mourning the death of a brother.

Ian Mynott's job was to comfort and support the family who were grieving their loss.

But instead, the married PC took advantage by grooming the dead man's sister within days of the tragedy 23 years ago.

Now 64, he remained impassive as Judge Oliver Saxby told him he had targeted his victim, causing "incalculable" harm.

He jailed him for 21 months.

The retired cop, who now lives in Henley Road, Chester, had pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office.

Prosecutor Ben Wild told Maidstone Crown Court how the victim's younger brother died in a motoring incident.

He said: "The defendant, who was then 41, was assigned to the deceased's family as a family liaison officer.

"At this time he was married with a child. He began showing his victim what she described as special attention; giving her money to pay for petrol and taking her to the scene of the accident where he cuddled her from behind."

Later Mynott took her to the home of a friend of his and cuddled her again, the court heard.

Mr Wild continued: "At this time he told her he thought she had been flirting with him.

"He later took her to his home where he cuddled her upstairs as Mynott's wife and children were downstairs.

"She later revealed how shocked she was by this. And then a day before the funeral he told her: "By tomorrow my involvement will be over and you won't see me again unless we have a different relationship.

"He then kissed her. Later he took her to his home while his wife was out and they laid on the bed with their clothes off although she refused to have sex. She was then let out of the house just as Mynott's wife had returned," he added.

The court heard how less than a month after the brother's death, Mynott and his victim had consensual sex.

The relationship later soured after members of her family began voicing their concerns "after the display of certain behaviours by the defendant".

Mynott then began calling his victim a "sl*g" and untrustworthy and began isolating her from her friends resulting in a decline in her mental health.

Despite the end of the relationship, Mynott turned up at a birthday party in a pub and many years later, something she reported to police.

The victim later recorded in a victim impact statement: "My brother's death came as a huge shock to me and was traumatising. My world was turned upside down.

"He exploited this for his own gain. I was often very distraught and confused. I simply did not not know how to cope with life.

"PC Mynott created divisions, secrets and lies in my family at a time when we were all struggling to process things and he was meant to be supporting us."

She said the officer had diminished her self esteem by "his emotional and sexual abuse".

"In a nutshell he made me feel worthless by constantly undermining me at a time when I was having severe emotional trauma," she added.

The victim, who sat in court for the hearing, added: "PC Mynott took advantage of me at a very vulnerable time of my life. He was in a position of power, trust and took away my chance to grieve for my brother. He has shown no remorse for his actions."

Mynott, who joined Kent Police in 1977 and retired in 2007, was later arrested in 2019 telling officers: "It's not what it seems...it's really not."

He now has to pay £1,000 compensation to his victim within six months and £670 in court costs.