Two police sergeants held an office sack race with confidential waste bags and crime scene tape.

"Laddish" Nicholas Grainger and Jamie Howard, who were working as local team sergeants at Purser Way, Gillingham, were joined by two inspectors as they competed in the jape.

They told a misconduct panel it was held to boost morale after a disappointing meeting and it "only lasted a few minutes" during which time they could be contacted on their radios.

They used confidential waste sacks and the crime scene tape acted as a finish line – it was not revealed who won.

The pair have now been given a final written warning after the panel heard that while leading teams "a culture or atmosphere developed in the open plan office causing some officers junior in rank, to feel uncomfortable and unhappy".

Colleagues told how they browsed social media rating female staff on their looks and would send "inappropriate" or "persistent" WhatsApp messages.

Another female officer said she felt "uncomfortable" during the team's Christmas party that year.

She said Sgt Grainger moved his position at the bar so he could face where she was dancing.

"I felt a little uncomfortable so I moved myself round and I was aware that Sgt Grainger moved as well," she said.

Sgt Grainger had a reputation for being abrupt and rude, barking orders across the office and shouting down the radio.

The hearing on Monday followed an earlier review of their behaviour in November, which was later suspended owing to legal reasons.

At the initial hearing, it was heard how both Sgt Howard, who has served on the force for 17 years, and Sgt Grainger, who has served for 13, received training relating to harassment, workplace bullying, equality and diversity, standards of professional behaviour and ethics.

"There was a laddish culture. I would often feel that if you didn't do as they say, then you would be treated less favourably."

However despite this training the pair were said to have created a “laddish” clique within the workplace.

This, the panel heard, formed part of a pattern of behaviour in which they both regularly engaged in sexual innuendo and the "discriminatory or denigrating assessment of female colleagues".

The female officers who gave evidence at that hearing relating to the way they were treated in and out of work hours had been working under the sergeants between 2016 and 2018.

One PC told the panel: "There was a laddish culture. I would often feel that if you didn't do as they say, then you would be treated less favourably."

At the renewed hearing led by Barrister Chiew Yin Jones both sergeants admitted their actions which amounted to gross misconduct but they were not dismissed from their roles.

Instead they received a final written warning which will remain on their personal file for 18 months.

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Roberts of Kent Police’s Professional Standards Department, said: "The officers admitted that their actions had fallen short of the high standards expected of them and the panel determined the officers will receive a final written warning."