Police officer that assaulted the young Wednesday Fan

Appeared at magistrates court but now sent to Leeds crown court on 30th December

Hope he gets jail the thug

 

He will be very popular in jail I imagine.

 

Yep and deserves all he gets . He could have easily killed the lad

 

I saw the video soon after the match.
It reminded me of a copper in the carpark at Pride Park about five years ago. This man's eyes were blazing and he was looking left and right for target. He pulled out a baton and he swished it and it extended and it clicked into place. There were Barnsley fans going back to the buses, excited, mainly teenagers. There was no incident but that copper was a volcano. He was dead set looking to smash someone. If this bloke had have seen two teenagers scrapping he'd have been right in there.

 

The footage, on the face of it appears to show a youth actually running away from the officer but being caught and receiving a severe beating whilst offering little or no resistance. It's hard to imagine any action beforehand which could have justified such uncontrolled aggression by the officer, although the footage admittedly does not show anything that went on before. It remains to be seen how the officer pleads, and he is fully entitled to put his defence or (if accepting his guilt) any mitigation. But if that is not accepted by the court then the conduct in question has no place in a modern and accountable police force.

 

I bet he's the only one who doesn't want 2020 to end !!!!!

Happy New Year........

And with the compo the lad will get he'll be able to buy Wednesdays ground back.

 

Luckily for him, we don’t have one.

 

There’s a lot of faith in ‘British Justice’ on this thread. Ordinarily that would be odd in itself, but coming from people who presumably have some connection with Barnsley and it’s history, it’s perverse.

 

There's a distinction to be made here between the actual justice system and the political sphere, in which social justice is often denied. The first is independent, although that independence is under threat from Johnson and his cronies. But I suspect you are talking more of the latter?

 

I'd be surprised if he doesn't get time. I know lads who on a first offence have done it for a scrap on a night out. If it's gone to Crown then I'd imagine the implications are it's serious enough to warrant a custodial. And it's not like it's just witness statements. The evidence against is plain to see.

He needs punishing. But it is sad that one moment of madness could lead to him losing his job, career, house, relationship, mental stability etc.

 

Like Barton though, going to crown court could be a gamble on a jury, rather than the prosecutions decision re sentencing.

If found guilty at Magistrates, both offences would get a short custodial sentence, but they’ll hope to convince a jury they’re not guilty by offering bullsh1t mitigation.

 

I was actually talking very specifically about the former. In my entire lifetime, as each decade brings out yet another plethora of miscarriages of justice’ we hear the familiar mantra “that was in the past, it’s fixed now.” My reference to the people of Barnsley was in relation to the still outstanding injustices of the Miners Strike, particularly around the travesty that remains around the Orgreave convictions.

On the political side, we’re probably more in agreement. Though I place the majority of blame for that situation, not with the politicians, but with the British people who time after time, when they have the opportunity to make a positive improvement, just say - no thanks. As an aside, that’s why I’m so supportive of the breakup of the UK because that would mean at least two Countries would be able to chose their own destiny without being dictated to by the (vast majority) of English voters.

 

I'm not sure about convictions in the magistrates' courts, but so far as the more serious charges were concerned, weren't all the Crown Court cases dismissed due to the unreliability of the evidence? There is an interesting chapter or two about this in Michael Mansfield's memoir. And substantial compensation was eventually paid out by South Yorkshire Police. So the Crown Court in that case did it's job, one could argue. Clearly though that doesn't excuse the conduct of the Police on the day, but that's another matter.

 

Hopefully he spends a few years locked up and can no longer be a policeman for the rest of his life. A grown man battering a kid with a weapon and he can't say it was self defence as the lad had no weapon and was running away, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

 

It's the conduct, and lack of accountability in any level within the Police, protected by the Criminal Justice system that's behind my comments. It's what led to the founding of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. This simply wants to seek the truth and justice for the miners who were victimised and falsely arrested by the police from many different forces during the picketing of the Orgreave Coking Plant.
95 miners were arrested and charged with riot, an offence which carried the potential sentence of life imprisonment.
The trials collapsed due to lack of evidence. No police force or officer has ever been disciplined or charged with perverting the course of justice, falsifying evidence and using violence against miners.
Orgreave is part of a pattern of cover ups and lies by the police from many different forces, which, tiny piece by piece, are now being exposed.

I think the fact that 36 years have now passed and those men who were victimized in this way have had no recognition of that is just ...well...piss poor, but not unusual in a British legal context. My original point.

 

Exactly and the biggest question he will get grilled over is " was it proportional to the threat the police officer was facing" absoloutley not, Ive done baton training and a strike to the head with a metal asp is a massive NO, NO. Why, because you coukd kill someone. Its all to do with escalation, the police should NEVER escalate, escalation is controlled by the rioters/ thugs/ public whoever and the police's job is to escalate to a level where they can getting things back under control, what he did was just vile, uncalled for and would have gone against everything he as been taught, The police are above the law ( lawfully) in many circumstances but this was not one of them circumstances

 

I respect your opinion, but police are trained so that 'moments of madness' do not happen. He's clearly not fit to be an officer by letting the blood rush to his head like that. His little moment could quite easily have ended someone else's life.

 

Magistrates have limited sentencing powers and can decline jurisdiction of cases that are either too complex or would attract a sentence that exceeds their powers. There are offences that are indictable only, meaning they have to go to crown court. I'm pretty sure sec 18 gbh is one such offence. The police are being held to account here in the proper way. In judging the whole situation please remember that every civilisation and every country currently has a police force. We probably have the most accountable in the world but it is comprised of the general populace not the product of some super race factory. Occasionally you will enlist a rogue or, more likely somebody who might otherwise be ok but have a red mist moment. I'll follow the trial with interest but hope, unlike allegations of brutality in the States, other police officers are guided by a moral compass rather than a blind esprit d'corps. I've watched the video and think they might do the right thing.

 

Spot on this a strike like that to a young lads head could have quite easily been fatal or left him with life changing injuries.

 

Maybe it's not just the one time and he's got away with it in the past?