A police officer is fighting to save his career after admitting to assaulting a woman while trying to arrest her.

PC Christopher Mansfield, 21, will be the subject of a disciplinary hearing next month after he pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault at Ipswich Crown Court.

The officer, from Westcliff, admitted to assaulting drug user Naomi Havis, 27, of Eastwoodbury Lane, Southend, on October 14, 2005, near the junction of Thames Drive and London Road, Leigh.

Mansfield denied a charge of causing actual bodily harm when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court in June last year, but he later admitted the lesser charge of common assault.

He was sentence to a 12-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £300 compensation.

Mansfield has been suspended since February, 2006. However, police were unable to confirm whether he was still being paid.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "The officer remains suspended and faces a disciplinary hearing in February."

He said one of the options of the disciplinary committee would be to dismiss the officer from the force.

Mansfield told the Echo he could not comment on the situation until after the hearing, except to say he wanted to continue his career as a police officer.

The police spokesman said the decision to hear the officer's court case in Ipswich, rather than locally, was at the request of his defence solicitor because it was thought an Essex Police officer may not get a fair trial in the same county he worked.

Naomi Havis is currently serving a seven-month prison sentence for theft, failing to surrender to bail, driving while disqualified, driving without due care and attention, failing to stop when required to do so by a police constable, and driving without insurance while on a conditional discharge for being in possession of drugs.