A police sergeant told a court today (MON) how col

A police sergeant told a court today (MON) how colleagues brought a battered man into custody after one of his officers attacked him in the street.

Sgt Stephen Beedell, now retired, said when he saw the cuts on Jason Hughes’ head, he immediately called an ambulance and the prisoner was rushed to hospital.

It is claimed PC Mathew Dunn, 34, ‘put the boot in’ to Jason Hughes and kicked him in the head as he was celebrating his fiancee’s new job.

He and five Wimbledon colleagues then ‘collaborated’ in a police canteen to write up a version that ‘diluted’ Dunn’s unlawful actions, it is claimed.

PC Simon Anear claimed Mr Hughes had lashed out at police.

And he insisted Mr Hughes banged his head on the ground as he was being bundled into a van.

Dunn, of Lansdowne Road, Purley, Surrey, denies assaulting Hughes on September 15, 2000 (correct) occasioning actual bodily harm: an alternative charge of battery; and perverting the course of justice on September 16 that year.

Simon Anear, 30, of Shrubland Road, Banstead, Surrey; John Innes, 32, of Beckford Way, Maidenbourne, Crawley, west Sussex; Paul Longhurst, 25, of Morland Road, Croydon, Surrey; Ross Bottomley, 30, of Dene Close, Ovingham, Northumberland; and 33-year-old Anita Malone, of Sheen Road, Richmond, Surrey, all deny a single offence of perverting the course of justice on September 16, 2000.

Mr Beedell, who was working as a Section Sgt at Wimbledon Police Station in south west London, told Southwark Crown Court he booked in Mr Hughes at just after midnight on September 16, 2000.

He said: ‘He had been arrested for threatening words and behaviour.

‘He apparently kicked two police officers.

‘I noted he had a cut to his forehead and some marks to his wrists.

‘The arresting officer, PC Anear, said he fell on being placed into police transport, striking his head on the ground.

‘I noted that he must see the police surgeon.

He had not lost consciousness nor was his wound bleeding profusely.

‘

Half-an-hour after arriving at the station Mr Hughes was put into a cell and an ambulance was called an hour later.

Mr Beedell went on: ‘I made the decision that to detain him further would not be in line with the law.

‘I did not think it would be right to have him interviewed at that stage.

‘

Prosecutor Mark Dennis asked: ‘Were you aware before Mr Hughes left for hospital that he had been kicked?’

Mr Beedell replied: ‘No.

There had obviously been a violent struggle but I was not aware he had been kicked.

‘If handcuffs had been applied, there has been some sort of struggle.

This is assumption.

‘

The court has heard how Mr Hughes and fiancee Ann Connolly, 26, had been celebrating her landing a new job when trouble flared.

The pair were thrown out of the Abbots pub in Abbotsbury Road, Morden and police were called to a ‘minor disturbance,’ the jury has heard.

Ms Connolly was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and nine officers arrived in three police vehicles to take her to the station.

Mr Hughes followed his girlfriend as she was being taken into the van, the court was told.

A scuffle broke out in which Pc Anear was shoved in the chest, jurors have heard.

Mr Dennis said Hughes was then wrestled to the ground: ‘One other officer decided to join in.

That was PC Dunn who had seen the incident from a distance.

‘Dunn ran across and delivered two forceful kicks to the prostrate Mr Hughes.

‘It was an unwarranted and excessive use of force by Dunn, an unlawful assault on Hughes.

‘The two kicks were plainly deliberate and we submit, aimed.

‘

And he said the kicks were in plain sight of PCs Anear, Innes, Longhurst, Bottomley and Malone, who were standing nearby.

It is alleged the other five officers then colluded with Dunn in writing up thier report to ‘protect PC Dunn from his improper and violent conduct.

‘

But Dunn was caught on CCTV attacking the man, who suffered a black eye and a badly bruised nose, it is claimed.

The trial continues.

ends