I said that I would be watching this case with interest.
I called Oldham to try and find out the results but they were very vague and gave me the run around by requiring me to ask the press office. The press office was not t their desk and has not returned my call.
I looked at the online newspaper that released the footage in the first place, but they had no information. So I called them and asked if they could make enquiries.
Lo and behold the following article has appeared:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292538/Three-police-officer-attack-Afghanistan-veteran-like-scene-Life-Mars.html
Three police officers 'attacked Afghanistan veteran like a scene from Life on Mars'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:06 PM on 6th July 2010
Three policemen violently assaulted a soldier who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan in 'a scene worthy of the TV programme Life on Mars' as they tried to restrain him, a court heard today.
Mark Aspinall, 25, was on a night out with his military rugby team on a farewell tour before he was due to leave the army in September 2008.
But it was alleged when he became a drunken nuisance in a nightclub, he was 'frogmarched' by senior officer Sgt Stephen Russell, 34, PC Richard Kelsall, 28, and special constable Peter Lightfoot into the street.
Accused: Sergeant Stephen Russell, left, and Special Constable Peter Lightfoot
He was then 'launched' across the road in a scene worthy of the hit BBC 70's cop drama 'Life on Mars' starring Philip Glennister as Det Ch Insp Gene Hunt.
When Mr Aspinall remonstrated with the three officers from Greater Manchester Police, the jury heard that he was subjected to a violent assault while he was held down on the ground in the middle of a main road with his face being pressed into the tarmac.
But it was Mr Aspinall, a former Lance Corporal with the Royal Mechanical Engineers, who was arrested, charged and convicted of two counts of assaulting a police officer based on false witness statements, the court heard.
Mr Aspinall, who had been in the army for seven years, appealed, and during the hearing Lightfoot gave evidence under oath - denying that he had done anything wrong during the arrest.
But Mr Aspinall won his appeal and had his conviction quashed.
In the aftermath, new CCTV evidence emerged of the officers assaulting him as he lay in the street.
Mr Ian Unsworth QC, for the prosecution, told the jury, 'The acts of these three police officers were unjustified, unwarranted and, we regret to say, unlawful.
'On any view, they were acts unworthy of police officers whose primary function that night was to restore good order, not to cause it to break down entirely.
'This was a scene worthy of the television programme, Life on Mars. Unfortunately for the victim, this was real life.'
He added, 'The case for the prosecution is that these three police officers engaged in an act or acts of unlawful violence and then plotted to cover up by submitting false witness statements which they knew to be false and which they knew would be used to support a prosecution of their victim.'
He told the jury that Mr Aspinall had been playing rugby league for the army against Shevington Sharks, and had gone out drinking following the match in Wigan town centre.
'Victim': Mark Aspinall, pictured with his girlfriend, was allegedly subjected to a prolonged attack by the three men
Over the course of the evening, he had consumed a large amount of alcohol and by the end of the evening was drunk at the Walkabout pub.
Mr Unsworth said that Mr Aspinall was behaving in an 'aggressive, rude and completely unacceptable' fashion to staff at the pub as they tried to assist a girl who had fainted.
He was asked to leave, but once outside continued to make a nuisance of himself.
By the time paramedics had arrived, Mr Aspinall continued to be abusive and around 2.30am police were called.
The jury were shown CCTV footage of Mr Aspinall as he appeared to be thrown into the road by Lightfoot and Kersall, landing in the far lane.
In their original witness statements, the officers claimed that they had pushed the victim with their hands and that he had tripped and fallen over.
Mr Unsworth said, 'To describe this as a stumble or a trip is stretching the use of language to breaking point. There is clear evidence that he was launched.
'Let us be blunt, the CCTV evidence does not bear out the description given by the three officers in their statements.
'We suggest that each and every one of these defendants lied about that aspect of the incident.
'The similarity of their statements leads us to the inevitable conclusion that they had put their heads together to create an official version of events.
'Official, it may have been. Honest it was not.'
The jury were then shown CCTV of Mr Aspinall appearing to remonstrate with the officers in the middle of the road.
As the three uniformed officers moved towards him in a 'concerted and deliberate move to detain him', he turned to move away tripped and fell and was 'wrestled to the ground'.
Mr Unsworth said he showed little sign of a struggle yet Lightfoot, rubbed his face into the tarmac and knocked his head to the ground, while Kelsall appeared to punch or slap Mr Aspinall - prior to being bitten by the victim.
Russell restrained the victim's feet.
Mr Unsworth added, 'Sgt Russell didn't express his dissent. On the contrary, his statement made in this matter sought to vindicate and justify the behaviour of his junior officers and diluted or omitted their behaviour.
'He did not simply turn a blind eye. By his actions (or inaction) at the time and thereafter it is clear that he was integral to both the assault and to its aftermath.
'We suggest that these and other factors provide positive support or the contention that Sgt Russell wilfully encouraged the behaviour of his colleagues and so aided and abetted the.
'He may not have been the person who actually physically carried out the assauilt but he was part and parcel of a joint enterprise which did so.'
Russell, Kelsall and Lightfoot all deny assault occassioning actual bodily harm, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Lightfoot also denies one count of perjury.
The trial continues.
Six days in and they are still hearing witnesses.
ReplyDelete/sigh
I will call later in the week.
The number is 0161 954 7500
There is no online way of finding out results unfortunately.
Here is the latest funny how the media and critics all start to back off and stop reporting when the truth starts to come out.
ReplyDeleteA drunk off-duty soldier, who says he was savagely beaten before being arrested by three police officers, had behaved in an ‘utterly disgraceful’ way on the night of the incident, a court heard.
Mark Aspinall, who had drunk about nine pints of lager in Wigan, shouted racial abuse at door staff of a club from which he was ejected, it was said.
He hammered at a closed door with a traffic cone and refused to get out of the way of paramedics called to treat a woman who had collapsed, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
He swore at the paramedics and boasted that he had fought in Iraq and was a hero, it was said. When police tried to calm him down, he is said to have sworn at them.
The court was told that before being thrown out of the Walkabout, on King Street, Mr Aspinall, described as having had an exemplary Army career, was said to have shouted racial abuse to an Asian doorman, referring to the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Mr Aspinall, from Bolton, who did two tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, strenuously denied the allegations, answering either with a firm ‘no’, or admitting he could not remember. He strenuously denied that he had taken cocaine, saying: “I have never, ever done drugs”.
The allegations were made during cross-examination of the former Lance Corporal, who has since left the Army, by barristers defending the police officers.
Pc Richard Kelsall 28, and Special Pc Peter Lightfoot, 40, each denied two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm; Sgt Stephen Russell denies assault and perjury and all three deny conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.
Mr Aspinall was originally prosecuted for assaulting the officers, all based at Wigan, but was cleared at appeal. Charges were brought against the officers after CCTV footage was found and following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A clip seen by the jury showed Mr Aspinall’s body flying through the air and landing in the road. He was then tackled to the ground by officers and an arm appears to be drawn back to throw a punch.
It was also revealed that Mr Aspinall has twice before been arrested while drunk, once just three months before this incident. He abused club doormen and offered to fight police. He had to be restrained with two pairs of handcuffs – as he was in Wigan – and was fined.
He was also fined after an earlier offence of being drunk and disorderly.
Justice has been served all 3 policemen are found not guilty on all charges.
ReplyDeleteNot quite right Tim. Seems that the sacrificial lamb was PCSO Lightfoot who is quite likely to get a custodial sentence.
ReplyDeleteHow the two others were not prosecuted under the joint enterprise laws is beyond me though.