Corrupt traffic cop, Irfan Hussain, has been jailed for imposing on-the-spot speeding fines to motorists so he could keep the cash.

Hussain stopped one driver and "fined" him £30 after realising he had left his wallet at home and had no money for his lunch.

The crooked Hertfordshire Constabulary officer was jailed for a year when he appeared at court to plead guilty to dishing out his own instant fines.

The court heard three motorists each handed over sums of £30 after being told by the officer it was a way they could avoid getting penalty points.

Hussain, 35, a married father of a young daughter, had been a police officer in Hertfordshire for 10 years when he became corrupt last August.

Luton Crown Court was told he had committed the offences after suffering stress from a number of distressing cases that he had been involved in, including the suicide of two young people on a railway line in the county.

But, in jailing the ex-officer, Judge Richard Foster said: "At the heart of policing in this country by consent is public trust."

The judge said the trust was based on the public believing in the integrity of police officers.

He went on: "That has been called into question by your conduct. What you have done is not just let yourself and your family down, but the entire police service."

Irfan was living with his wife and daughter at the time of the offences in Canterbury Way, Stevenage, and his duties regularly found himself as a traffic officer driving his marked police car in south west Hertfordshire.

He "fined" one driver, Daniel Kitchener, in Sandy lane, Bushey, and 40 minutes later another in Stanmore.

He pleaded guilty in court to misconduct, three offences of fraud and three offences of doing an act tending or intended to pervert the court of justice.

The offences represented three separate occasions when he succeeded in getting two motorists and a motorcyclist to hand over £30 on the spot fines and one attempt with another driver.

The offences had occurred during a five day period last August.

Hussain was caught after one of the drivers was suspicious about what had happened and contacted the policeman's bosses at Hatfield Police Station.

The court was told that following his arrest Hussain has been dismissed from the force and he and his family have moved to Larch Close in Teignmouth, Devon.

After the case, Deputy Chief Constable Alison Roome-Gifford said: "Irfan Hussain failed to live up to the high standard of conduct expected of staff who serve with Hertfordshire Constabulary and has now been imprisoned for his disgraceful conduct.

"The public rightly expects police officers to act with integrity at all times and for action to be taken when they do not. This officer betrayed the trust placed in him by the public and his colleagues and is now living with the consequences."