A senior police officer from Bedford who was responsible for guarding the Queen has lost out on promotion to chief inspector after posting intimate details of his gay lifestyle on his Facebook page.

Insp Chris Dreyfus, British Transport Police's head of royalty and government protection, was offered a job with Bedfordshire Police, but it was withdrawn after it emerged he had been given a warning by his employer.

A spokesman for Beds Police said: "After the interview on February 13 we ran routine background checks and were told he has a live sanction against him.

"Therefore we felt we were unable to proceed with the job offer."
The spokesman explained that a 'live sanction' is a disciplinary written warning which stays on an officer's record for 12 months.

Insp Dreyfus's profile on the social networking website came to light after The Sun newspaper ran a story last summer.

The 29-year-old's profile, which is no longer on the site, said he was interested in men and was looking for "whatever I can get".

In one online conversation, he wrote: "Hope the leather shorts didn't chafe too much on Saturday."

And he replied to another comment about a dog collar being uncomfortable.

Insp Dreyfus was also featured in another photograph posing in his uniform outside a London Underground station.

He used to be in charge of 30 officers when he was the head the Transport Police's Counter-Terrorism Proactive Unit.

In addition he was on the fron- tline at King's Cross during the July 7 suicide attacks in 2005.

The high-flying officer, a computing and business graduate, was one of the elite 0.5 per cent of applicants accepted onto the Police High Potential Development Scheme.

He joined the service after running a software company.

In an interview two years ago, he said: "Where it's been challenging is the fact that I am so young. I've not had any direct comments, but I have had people say in general terms, 'I don't think anyone should be a sergeant unless you've been four years a PC'.

"Clearly, I don't have the experience that other officers have, so it's about convincing people that my skills aren't in patrol work, they're in management."