Dalian Atkinson: Police officer found guilty of gross misconduct for using excessive force against ex-Aston Villa player
A police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct for using excessive force after she repeatedly struck former Aston Villa player Dalian Atkinson with a baton, a disciplinary panel has found.
The tribunal found on Friday that PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, a West Mercia officer, acted wrongly when she struck Mr Atkinson three times during an incident on 15 August, 2016, in which the former footballer later died.
PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith outside Birmingham Crown Court last September
Mr Atkinson died after being kicked at least twice in the head by PC Bettley-Smith’s more experienced colleague, PC Benjamin Monk, outside his father’s home in Telford, Shropshire.
Mr Atkinson had been tasered to the ground before he was kicked and then PC Bettley-Smith used her police-issue baton claiming she “perceived” he was trying to get up.
Eyewitnesses said the 48-year-old former player was “not moving” and “was not resistant”.
The tribunal found three initial strikes before Monk kicked Mr Atkinson were “lawful”, but it found PC Bettley-Smith’s decision to then hit him a further three times – after police back-up had arrived – was “unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable”.
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Benjamin Monk was found guilty of the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson
Monk was jailed for eight years in 2021 after he was convicted of manslaughter by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.
His conviction is believed to be the first time in modern British criminal justice history that a UK police officer was found guilty of the manslaughter of a black man, according to Inquest, which supports the bereaved following state-related deaths.
PC Bettley-Smith was last year cleared of assaulting Mr Atkinson after a trial – but the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found there was a gross misconduct disciplinary case to answer for her use of force.
Karimulla Khan, chairman of the panel, said on Friday the three baton strikes by PC Bettley-Smith were “unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable in all the circumstances and were therefore unlawful”.
The panel is now set to hear evidence on whether the 33-year-old, who was a probationary officer at the time of the incident, should be allowed to keep her job or face a lesser sanction.
Patrick Gibbs KC, representing PC Bettley-Smith, said: “The six and a half years… must be a significant punishment in itself and there will have been a long time of reflection for what happened on that night.”
He said the conduct of the police officer, a University of Hull graduate originally from Staffordshire, “had, until that moment, been admirable” and that her unlawful baton strikes had occurred in the space of a 27-second period.
“This involves a miscalculation in the heat of moment in the degree of force which still now needed to be used,” he added.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
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