A police officer has been convicted of the manslaughter of the former professional footballer Dalian Atkinson, after firing an electric stun gun into him for 33 seconds and kicking him twice in the head as he lay on the ground.
PC Benjamin Monk, of the West Mercia force, was convicted of the killing by a jury at Birmingham crown court.
Monk was accused of lying in court about his account, and of kicking and stamping on Atkinson’s head while he was barely conscious on the ground. He is the first police officer to be convicted of manslaughter during the course of their duties in more than three decades.
Atkinson was kicked with such force his blood was found in the laces of Monk’s police issue boots.
The jury reached its verdicts on Monk after 18 hours and 48 minutes of deliberation. They first acquitted him of murder, but then unanimously convicted him of manslaughter.
They are continuing to consider their verdicts on his co-accused, PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who denies actual bodily harm for striking Atkinson with a baton while he was on the ground.
Details of the unlawful violence the jury found Monk had used were only made public at trial almost five years after Atkinson’s death.
Atkinson, from Telford, Shropshire, was pronounced dead 70 minutes after the incident on 15 August 2016.
He had gone to his childhood home in Meadow Close, which he had bought with the money he made from being a professional footballer, for his father Ernest. Shortly after 1.30am, a neighbour called the police because Atkinson, 48, was causing a disturbance.
Atkinson achieved fame as a striker for Aston Villa, and also played clubs in England, Spain and Turkey. He retired from football in 2001.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3vL0kW9
via IFTTT
No Comment