Unanimous Acquittal in Police Sergeant Assault Trial

Chaynee Hodgetts, instructed by Ms Karen Struckley of Kalber Struckley Solicitors, secured a unanimous Not Guilty verdict for a Defendant charged with assaulting an off-duty Metropolitan Police Sergeant.

Ms Hodgetts’ Client was charged with assaulting the Sergeant in an incident back in the year 2000, when the Sergeant, who was on his way home from work, in civilian clothes and off duty, stopped him at the ticket barriers to the tube. Ms Hodgetts’ Client had tried to follow what he understood to be a member of public through the barriers, as the Sergeant passed through with his unmarked bicycle. The Defendant did not know that the Sergeant was an off-duty Police Officer. The Sergeant stopped him, and words were briefly exchanged, with the Defendant holding his umbrella to maintain space between them, before a scuffle ensued. The Sergeant suggested the Defendant had stuck the first blow, and that he was then simply trying to effect an arrest, under PACE powers, or a as a citizen’s arrest. However, the Defendant’s account was that the Sergeant had pushed backwards through the ticket barriers, grabbed him by the throat area, and punched him around three times to the head, until TfL staff ran over to intervene. The CCTV footage appeared to support the Defendant’s account, showing the Sergeant moving swiftly back through the barrier, grabbing hold of the Client’s collar or throat, and punching him to the head repeatedly.

The Sergeant accepted the CCTV showed him punching the Defendant in the head, while holding him by the collarbone or throat area, with the Sergeant adding that he was punching the Defendant “as hard as I could in the face” and that he “could not recall the order of my punches, or how often I punched him.” Ms Hodgetts’ Client, who maintained that he had respect for the Police throughout, despite being distressed by what had happened, stated that the only time he hit the Sergeant was when he struck back twice, while the Sergeant was still gripping him by the throat and punching him to the head. The Defence raised self-defence, and, after 1 hour and 29 minutes, the jury returned a unanimous Not Guilty verdict, resulting in the Client’s acquittal.