Police in Sussex have been moonlighting as masseurs, professional footballers, magicians and bagpipe players.

Other ways of earning extra money are hairdressing, breeding dogs, aromatherapy, martial arts instruction, drawing cartoons and acting as a mystery shopper.

The ranks of officers with outside business interests range from constable to superintendent.

The Argus sought details under the Freedom of Information Act.

A spreadsheet released by Sussex Police shows 129 officers - one in 25 - have been given permission for business interests outside their police work.

The most common is related to property, with 22 officers granted permission for a range of activities from keeping a lodger to renting out a holiday home in Florida.

Earnings from various forms of training given by officers, declared by 17, is the next most popular.

Driving or chauffeuring is a further favourite.

Second jobs have included tennis coaching or playing in a band, wedding photography, gardening and even cat sitting.

Two officers, gender not specified, have been given permission to work as masseurs.

One detective constable declared a business interest as a toastmaster while a sergeant declared in 2004 that his band had just started to take bookings and were getting up to £400 a gig.

A constable in the Hastings and Rother division was given permission to play the bagpipes at weddings and other occasions.

Critics have questioned how officers fulfilling such demanding roles are able to devote time to second careers.

But PC Mark White, secretary of the Sussex Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said junior members of the force had no choice but to take a second job if they wanted to get on the property ladder.

He said: "We appreciate the high cost of living and how difficult it is for young people to buy a house. They need a few extra pounds in their back pockets. How is an officer starting on £21,000 supposed to buy a place in Brighton costing £200,000 and more? So they supplement their income."

Of those granted permission for second jobs, 73 are police constables and another 21 are detective constables. A chief inspector was allowed a part-time job, as was a detective inspector, 18 sergeants, four detective sergeants, three inspectors, one superintendent and one detective superintendent.

Police said they did not regard the spreadsheet as an accurate statistical record but rather "as purely giving a snapshot of the type of interests for which officers are given authority."