Child who injured Leicestershire police officer to face no charge
- Published
The Crown Prosecution Service said the case involved "a vulnerable child"
The Crown Prosecution Service has defended its decision not to prosecute a "vulnerable" missing child who injured a police officer while being detained.
Leicestershire Police Federation said it was "absolutely disgusting" that the CPS had "dropped" the case.
However, the CPS has said the child was given a youth conditional caution and this was the "best course of action".
The BBC understands the missing person was a girl in her early teens.
Leicestershire Police Federation said the officer was diagnosed with concussion and a broken finger after the incident.
'Concerns over welfare'
The CPS has not given details about what happened, but Leicestershire Police Federation claimed the child punched the officer twice to the side of the head.
A statement, external said it happened when the officer was searching for a "high-risk missing person".
"When the officer located the missing person and tried to detain them, as there were serious concerns over their welfare, the individual punched the officer twice to the side of the head and then struggled during arrest," the statement said.
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Under a youth conditional caution, a local youth offending team will implement measures to prevent the child from re-offending.
If the child fails to comply, the matter can be referred back to court and be cited in future proceedings.
Adam Commons, chairman of Leicestershire Police Federation, said he was "furious" with the decision.
"Police officers do not go to work to be assaulted, they do their job to protect our communities and bring people to justice. What message does it send to the country when our protectors are ignored?" he said.
The Police Federation said 893 Leicestershire officers were assaulted in the past financial year.
The CPS said it take assaults on emergency workers very seriously, and in the last four years it has prosecuted 50,000 cases in England and Wales. Of these, 42,000 resulted in a conviction, meaning the conviction rate is 84%.
No previous convictions
A spokesperson for the CPS said: "No police officer should be subjected to violence, which is why the CPS deals robustly and appropriately with those who commit offences against them.
"This case involved a vulnerable child under-16 with no previous convictions who fully admitted to what they did and is willing to work with local youth offending services to address their behaviour.
"As a result, the CPS decided the best course of action was a youth conditional caution."
The Police Federation also complained that the officer had been told about the decision via email.
In response to this, the CPS said: "We sent a letter to the victim explaining how we came to this decision.
"We accept our first contact with them could have been clearer and are working to improve how we communicate with victims in future cases."
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