NUNN: POLICE OFFICERS ‘INVENTED’ ASSAULT CLAIM AFTER CELL TUSSLE

Two policemen ‘invented’ bogus allegations against a suspect in a bid to cover up an assault on him by one of the officers, a court heard today (Mon).

Police Sergeants Timothy Nunn, 41, and Lee Morgan, 40, claimed Amir Miah had punched Nunn three times in the back while in custody.

But CCTV footage taken from inside the cell did not show an attack taking place and instead caught the two officers ‘colluding’ over their version of events, it is said.

Southwark Crown Court heard the allegation was designed to cover up Nunn’s forceful restraint of Mr Miah during which the prisoner’s head was covered with a blanket and the two men grappled with one another.

Jurors were told that Mr Miah was not seen to have provoked the violent incident.

Prosecutor Jane Osborne told the court Mr Miah had been taken to Plaistow police station after being arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin with intent to supply on April 8, 2009.

She said Nunn assaulted the suspect later that day when he went to speak with him in his cell.

During the conversation Mr Miah had called Nunn a c*** to which he allegedly replied ‘If you’re going to come here and call me a c*** I’ll treat you as a c***’.

It is then alleged Nunn launched the assault.

Jurors were told Morgan had entered the cell to find Nunn and Mr Miah struggling together and joined in.

Seven seconds later a third officer entered the cell to find all three men tussling.

Ms Osborne said Nunn and Morgan then left the cell and began to hatch a plot to cover-up the assault.

She said: ‘Having left Mr Miah in his cell the two officers leave and there is a conversation recorded between them outside.

‘Sgt Nunn says to Sgt Morgan “How many time did he punch me in the back?” and the answer is “About three times weren’t it?”

‘On the face of it that could be considered innocent but in the context that it is with CCTV footage showing no blow being struck the prosecution say it is an initial attempt to collude and get their stories together – to invent something that did not happen.

‘That is, say the prosecution, the beginning of Sgt Morgan supporting the false allegation that was later submitted by Sgt Nunn in his statement.

‘The prosecution say that the point of the false allegation being made was to distract from Sgt Nunn’s loss of control in the restraint of Mr Miah.’

Nunn and Morgan were interviewed in relation to the matter and both men maintained the allegations against Mr Miah.

Nunn said he believed the three punches struck by Mr Miah may not have shown up on the CCTV due to the ‘time lapse nature of the footage’, jurors were told.

He said he believed the suspect was about to attack him and he had attempted to restrain him.

Ms Osborne said: ‘Sgt Morgan said in his statement that he had heard Mr Miah shouting and being abusive and that when he entered the cell his blanket was already over his head and that during the struggle Mr Miah reached around Sgt Nunn’s body and punched him in the back.’

The assault charge brought against Mr Miah was eventually dropped.

Nunn, from Benfield, Essex, and Morgan, from Canvey Island, Essex, deny one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The trial continues.
ENDS