THE police watchdog has announced two serving Gwent officers are under criminal investigation, and nine more are facing misconduct allegations, in connection with retired sergeant Ricky Jones.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched a probe into several Gwent Police officers after a Sunday Times investigation uncovered messages on the late Mr Jones' phone, which are alleged to be "offensive or inappropriate".

Today, Wednesday, the IOPC said it had "analysed a considerable volume of data downloaded" from the phone and had "served notices on 11 current or former Gwent Police officers to indicate that their conduct is under investigation".

The police watchdog said after "careful assessment" it had served gross misconduct notices on two current and two former police officers.

The IOPC has also issued a notice at misconduct level on a serving officer.

Each of those notices relate to "offensive or inappropriate messages discovered on the phone of deceased former officer, Ricky Jones", the watchdog said, explaining that "such notices advise officers their conduct is subject to investigation and do not necessarily mean any disciplinary charges will follow".

The IOPC said it had served notices at the level of misconduct "on a further four Gwent Police officers, three serving and one former, who have been identified as being involved in a WhatsApp group where messages were shared".

These notices surround allegations the officers "failed to challenge or report inappropriate messages sent by colleagues".

Addition, two serving officers are under criminal investigation for "the alleged unauthorised disclosure of police information to Ricky Jones after he had left Gwent Police".

These two officers have been served with gross misconduct notices, the IOPC said, adding that they were "not being investigated over offensive messages".

IOPC director David Ford said: “Our investigation is examining the exchange of messages, unauthorised sharing of police information, and whether any serving officers failed to challenge or report the conduct of their colleagues.

"The officers who are subject to investigation range from police constable to inspecting ranks. We will keep the involvement of any other officers under review as any further information comes to light.

"We are also investigating when Gwent Police became aware of Ricky Jones’ family’s concerns about the messages and what steps the force took to explore them.

"We will progress the investigation as swiftly as possible, but given the number of officers and the non-recent nature of the alleged conduct, enquiries will take some time."

A separate Wiltshire Police investigation is ongoing into a series of complaints from the family of Ricky Jones, relating to Gwent Police’s handling of its investigation into his death and officers’ contact with his relatives.

This article was amended on April 20 to correct the number of officers facing misconduct allegations in the first paragraph.