Bradford PC Jacob Swallow sentenced for assault on suspect

Jacob Swallow attacked a 17-year-old suspect in Keighley

A police officer has been sentenced to 22 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, after being found guilty of assaulting a teenager.

Bradford-based PC Jacob Swallow, 24, was accused of attacking the 17-year-old boy in Keighley in June last year.

He was found guilty of common assault by a judge at York Magistrates' Court in March.

Sentencing him on Wednesday at the same court, District Judge Adrian Lower said Swallow's career was now "in ruins".

Judge Lower added: "I imagine you'll be fast-tracked to dismissal."

The judge said the victim, who was drunk and was being restrained by family members when police arrived, had been "manhandled into the caged area of a police van and handcuffed where he began banging and kicking the cage".

He said the teenager had then bitten one of the police officers which was "utterly unacceptable".

'Abuse of power'

The judge said Swallow then hit the boy with his left fist which was his "dominant hand".

Judge Lower told Swallow the victim was much smaller and shorter than him and there had been "no justification for his actions".

He added: "You said in your incident statement he had assaulted you, he didn't.

"It was a clear abuse of power. You punched a drunk teenage boy in the face who was no threat to you."

Swallow's defence counsel, Ms Z A Cheetham, told the judge any custodial sentence would cause "great psychological stress" to his family.

She said the loss of Swallow's career "was a punishment within itself and would change his life forever".

In a statement read out in court, the victim said: "The officer used his fist to hit me once to the right side of my nose.

"I was shouting abuse at them and it is possible I made some threats - I can't remember what I was saying because I was drunk - but I didn't say anything to the officer before he hit me."

As well as the 22-week suspended prison sentence, Swallow was ordered to pay a total of £948 in court costs and compensation to the victim.

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