Dalian Atkinson: PC guilty of former footballer's manslaughter

A police officer has been found guilty of the manslaughter of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson.

The former Aston Villa striker died after a stand-off with West Mercia police officers outside his father’s home in Telford, Shropshire in 2016.

PC Benjamin Monk, 43, was cleared by jurors of an alternative charge of murder.

A trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard Monk tasered Mr Atkinson for 33 seconds and kicked him twice in the head.

He denied any wrongdoing and said he believed there was a danger to life for him and his colleague.

Mr Atkinson began his career at Ipswich Town before moving to Sheffield Wednesday, Real Sociedad and Aston Villa.

Following a three-week-trial, jurors took 18 hours and 48 minutes to reach unanimous verdicts on Monk.

They are still deliberating on an assault charge relating to Monk’s colleague and former girlfriend, PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, 31.

The trial heard how the pair were called to Mr Atkinson’s father’s house in Meadow Close in the early hours of 15 August, where the the sportsman had been acting erratically.

Monk told the court he ran in fear after Mr Atkinson, who appeared to be having a mental health crisis, made death threats and smashed a glass door pane.

The trial heard Monk had discharged his Taser three times at Mr Atkinson, twice unsuccessfully, but on the third time he overrode the system, holding down the trigger for 33 seconds – more than six times the standard deployment.

The officer claimed to have no recollection of placing his foot on Mr Atkinson’s head as colleagues arrived at the scene.

However he conceded he must have kicked the ex-footballer twice in the forehead, because bootlace prints proved he had, the officer maintained his actions were lawful self-defence, made necessary when the former Premier league star tried to get up.

Mr Atkinson, who had a number of underlying health conditions, went into cardiac arrest after being taken from the scene in an ambulance, and was pronounced dead in hospital at 02:45 BST – about an hour after he was tasered.

According to the charity Inquest, no police officer has been found guilty of murder or manslaughter over a death in custody or following police contact in England and Wales since the 1980s.