Police officer keeps job after trip 'With the McCanns' holiday joke

Police officer will keep her job after probe into Facebook post she shared that said ‘I need a holiday so much I’d go away with the McCanns’

• PC Paula Manos, 48, shared the comment on one of her social media accounts
• Avon and Somerset Police investigated but did not impose a punishment
• Bosses instead just encouraged her to ‘reflect and learn from the issue’
• Madeleine McCann disappeared 13 years ago but a new suspect has been found 

A police officer who shared a post declaring’I need a holiday so much I’d be willing to go away with the McCanns’ has been let off by force bosses

PC Paula Manos, 48, escaped punishment over the Facebook share and will instead be encouraged to ‘reflect and learn from the issue’ during a review process.

The controversy relates to a comment which appeared on an account linked to the officer, a beat manager in Thornbury, Glos.

It said: ‘I need a holiday so much I’d be willing to go away with the McCanns at this point’.

PC Paula Manos, an officer for Avon and Somerset Police in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, near Bristol, was let off over a sick post on Facebook which mocked Madeleine McCann’s parents

It was shared on the day Britain’s lockdown was announced (March 23).

Madeleine – widely known as Maddie – was a young girl who vanished while on holiday in Portugal with her parents in 2007.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary said it had investigated but that the post did not ‘meet the threshold of misconduct’.

A spokesperson said: ‘However it does fall short of standards of behaviour expected by the public and police and will be dealt with under the ‘practice requires improvement’ process.

‘The officer is expected to engage with a review process in which they are encouraged to reflect and learn from the issue.’

At the time other social media users responded to the post with a laughing or shocked emoji, while others just ‘liked’ it.

The post read: ‘Need a holiday so much I’d be willing to go away with the McCanns at this point’

One of the PC Manos’s friends replied: ‘That would be a Renault Megane, yes?’.

The comment was in apparent reference to the Renault Scenic car Kate and Gerry McCann rented after their daughter disappeared. 

PC Manos then reportedly responded with a GIF of comedy character Mr Bean dropping a glass, as well as one of a cat with a shocked expression.

At the time an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: ‘We have a clear policy on what’s expected of all our officers and staff in relation to responsible professional and personal use of social media.

Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia De Luz, Portugal, in 2007 after parents Kate and Gerry left her and her twin siblings sleeping while they had dinner

 ‘This policy is guided by the shared values which are expressed in the Code of Ethics and the standards which reflect public expectation on how those in policing should behave.

‘Our Professional Standards Department have been made aware of the post and will be looking into them further.

‘While we’re not able to comment further at this stage, we would like to make clear that we do not condone in any way the sentiments expressed in the posts.’

The news of the post came after German prosecutors announced a major breakthrough in the search for Madeleine, with their investigation of 43-year-old paedophile Christian Brueckner.

He was living in Praia Da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

He is currently serving time in prison in Germany for drugs offences and was previously convicted in Germany of sexually abusing two girls.

The sex offender also raped a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz just 18 months before Madeleine disappeared.

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