A police inspector who leaked details of cases to local journalists has been sacked after a public misconduct hearing.

Inspector Lee Lyons, of Sussex Police, was found to have “formed and maintained” relationships with two unnamed local journalists to whom he passed details of police incidents on their patches.

Mr Lyons was also found to have contacted prostitutes while on duty,  using his personal phone at work to make 23 calls to 11 prostitutes in just over an hour on 23 July last year, the hearing was told.

Sussex Police has refused to say whether it used the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to uncover Mr Lyons’ contact with journalists.

Mr Lyons, who was based in Hastings, faced a total of 21 claims in his absence at yesterday’s seven-minute hearing in front of Sussex Police chief constable Giles York at force headquarters in Lewes.

Mr York said Mr Lyons had signed a document accepting all the allegations against him.

No mitigating factors were offered on his behalf by Inspector Matt Webb, chairman of the Sussex Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers.

Mr York said the scale and harm of Mr Lyons’ “pattern of behaviour” amounted to gross misconduct.

Mr Lyons had “breached the boundaries between professional and personal life” which persisted even after management intervention, he said.

Mr Lyons – an officer since 2001 – disclosed details on Facebook after seven-year-old Mary Shipstone was shot dead by her father Yasser Alromisse, 46, who then turned the gun on himself outside her house in Northiam, near Rye.

He posted while off-duty on September 11 last year: “Can’t go into massive detail, and not for wider posting on FB. Estranged father shot daughter and then shot himself.

“He died at scene, she is currently at Kings College, London; she will likely die soon but there is a chance she might pull through.”

Later that same day, he engaged in an iMessage chat with a BBC producer, and said at 10.25pm: “Wait until the media get wind of the extremism link.”

He later added: “Egyptian national, claims to have been a ‘terrorist'; alleged to have been radicalised. Poss ‘honour’ killing.”

Again, on the same day, Mr Lyons had a WhatsApp chat with a barrister and personal friend, in which he revealed further details about the incident, describing the victim as “brain dead”.

And he added: “Obvs between us but…Non supportive DV history, he is an Egyptian national, claims to have been a ‘terrorist'; alleged to have been radicalised. Poss ‘honour’ killing.”

In further disclosures, on March 27 last year Mr Lyons contacted a BBC producer via WhatsApp and rev ealed that a number of police officers had been suspened at Hastings, including one accused of bullying and one alleged to have misused a Taser.

The following day, he contacted the BBC producer again via WhatsApp, saying: “One of the new suspended officers is my mate. Looks like he is losing his job…He has been a cock…Sleeved a job…And the victim then got a shoeing.”

Mr Lyons also “formed and maintained a relationship with a local news reporter” from at least May 2012 to the present day, the hearing was told.

In one incident, on August 2, 2012, the reporter contacted Mr Lyons seeking confirmation about a Hastings-based sergeant being dismissed for a “racist comment”.

Mr Lyons replied: “Correct, running a story?” Asked for further details, he added: “Yeah, made fun of a colleague. Other stuff too, can’t mention. Poor supervisor.”

Mr Lyons also made other disclosures to the reporter.

From at least November 2011 he had also struck up a relationship with another local journalist to whom he gave information about police incidents.

He also sent a number of sensitive and restricted documents from his Sussex Police e-mail account to his personal account.

Press Gazette reported that Sussex Police said it became aware of the contact between Mr Lyons and the journalists after “examination of devices owned by Sussex Police and analysis of Lee Lyons’s personal devices, which were obtained with the necessary legal permissions”.

The force, said Press Gazette, had refused to say whether the “legal permissions” were under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

After the hearing, Sussex Police Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said the Crown Prosecution Service had decided no criminal charges would be brought against 40-year-old Mr Lyons, and that the matter could be dealt with by misconduct proceedings.

She said: “The investigation has been complex, but as soon as he was identified, we immediately suspended him.

“While I am saddened that it has been necessary to take such action at all, I am pleased with the result which highlights our determination not to allow people like this to taint the name of Sussex Police and the enormous amount of hard work carried out day-to-day by thousands of hard-working and enormously dedicated police officers and staff.”

Detective Inspector Nick Wainwright said the incidents emerged when “very sensitive” details of four cases were passed to a journalist over the course of a few days.

He said: “As a result of this, DCC Pinkney tasked the anti-corruption unit with identifying the source of the leak and a host of other incidents were discovered.

“Some of these took place while Lyons was on duty, others, including the passing of restricted operational documents, were carried out off duty.”

Mr Lyons was suspended on October 2 last year. He has a right to appeal against the decision.