Deputy Chief Constable Michael Cunningham called on police to turn a blind eye to people having public sex recently in a new report on dogging and gay men cruising. The top cop suggested police should stop being ‘moral arbiters’ in the report and said sensitive policing could help prevent suicides amongst people busted in public toilets and parks.

“The impact can be extreme and can include humiliation, breakdown of relationships and the ‘outing’ of men living in an opposite sex relationship being perceived as ‘gay’,” he said. “Acts of suicide and self-harm by people who may have been arrested or come into contact with the police situation has happened,” he added.

The British police chief’s open minded stance contrasted markedly with that of Dubai senior prosecutor Faisal Abdelmalek Ahli, who handled the case of British ‘sex on the beach’ duo Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, who were this week sentenced to 3 months in prison for kissing and cuddling in public. “I’m not happy. It’s very light,” Mr Abdelmalek Ahli complained. “It’s normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offence such as this.”