A FORMER female firearms officer, who was asked if she wanted a pink gun and was led towards a stash of pornographic magazines, has agreed a £20,000 compensation payout from North Yorkshire Police.

Towards the end of last year, an employment tribunal in London ruled in favour in three out of seven claims made by the officer, whose name is withheld for security reasons, against the force.

The tribunal agreed that she had been subjected to harassment during a firearms training course, was discriminated against and had been victimised by failing to deal with her complaints and indirectly discriminated against by failing to supply her with body armour.

During a training session, she was ordered to follow a sniffer dog to a cabinet which contained pornographic magazines.

She was also told that female officers did not have loud enough voices to shout during operations and that two women officers should not be paired together because they would need to go to the toilet at the same time.

Her solicitor has now confirmed his client, who no longer works as a firearms officer, but is still a serving officer, has been awarded £20,000 in damages.

The North Yorkshire force said they would learn lessons from the case and put them into practice.