PC had sex with half-sister

PC Anthony Smedley, 46, of Nares Street, Scarborough, was given a conditional discharge for 18 months after admitting having sex with his half-sister, Janet Paveling, 41.

York Crown Court heard the pair were virtual strangers - but were reunited in 2000, after which they embarked on a passionate relationship.

Smedley pleaded guilty to incest between January 1, 2001 and October 30, 2001.

Paveling had faced a charge of incest with Smedley, but after he admitted the offence, the judge ordered that the charge against her should lie on the file.

The court was told Smedley was placed in care two years after he was born, and was eventually raised by an abusive foster father.

He had no contact with his family until the mid-1970s when, at the age of 18, he was allowed to see his mother and half-sister for one hour. No more meetings were arranged.

It was while Smedley was on patrol that his colleagues at Scarborough Police Station received a call from his long-lost mother.

After a number of telephone conversations he went to London to meet his mother and two-half sisters, Janet and Ann.

Janet Paveling and Smedley shared the same mother, Simon Hickey, prosecuting, told the court.

He said Paveling, of Toft Way, Bow, London, and Smedley, who were both married with children at the time, embarked on a passionate affair and wrote to each other often.

The court was told the affair was discovered by chance when colleagues looking for a missing file found the love letters when they searched Smedley's locker.

Sam Stein, defending, said extensive research had shown that when some siblings are separated at an early age and then reunited there had been occasions when the relationship had developed sexually.

The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, said Smedley would now lose his job as a police officer, and his real punishment was the "shame and trauma of having to appear in the dock".

Updated: 10:55 Tuesday, April 29, 2003