I did what I had to do, says PC who repeatedly hit Dalian Atkinson

PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith is accused of gross misconduct over her baton use against ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson on the day he died

A PC who repeatedly hit an ex-footballer with a baton on the night he was killed by her colleague told a disciplinary panel she had done "what I thought I had to do".

Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith denies gross misconduct over the manner in which she detained Dalian Atkinson in 2016.

The hearing is being held after she was acquitted of a related charge at trial.

On day three of the disciplinary process, she told the panel she had struck Mr Atkinson to "keep him down".

"I was terrified for what he would do to get back up," she said.

At the time, Mr Atkinson, who played for Aston Villa in the early 1990s, had already been tasered and kicked in the head by PC Bettley-Smith's colleague and partner Benjamin Monk.

When police attended the scene, Mr Atkinson was said, after health issues, to have been in distress outside his father's home in Telford, Shropshire, in August 2016.

He died about an hour later, with Monk jailed in 2021 for manslaughter.

'Grabbing at his chest'

In 2022, PC Bettley-Smith, of West Mercia Police, was acquitted at a retrial of actual bodily harm.

But the Independent Office for Police Conduct found there was a gross misconduct disciplinary case to answer for her use of force.

If proven, she could face immediate dismissal.

The disciplinary panel heard her describe pressing the alarm-activation button on her personal radio to get back-up just as Mr Atkinson was tasered by Monk for the first time.

She told the hearing the first and second taser cartridges had had no visible effect but after Monk had fired a third, the ex-footballer had "timbered" to the floor and hit the road.

The pair moved towards him and she recalled him "grabbing at his chest where the Taser wires were" and making a "very loud" "growling" noise.

PC Bettley-Smith told the hearing she had thought they had antagonised him.

"I perceived him to be trying to propel himself to get up and proceeded to strike Mr Atkinson to the fleshy areas of his body to try and get him down and under control," she told the panel.

'I know he did kick him'

When asked by her barrister Patrick Gibbs KC if she had seen Monk kick Mr Atkinson in the head, she said she had heard him say "this isn't working".

"I saw him pull his leg back and I know he did kick him, but I don't know if I saw him kick him - but I know he did kick him. I would say it had no effect," she added.

As other police officers arrived, PC Bettley-Smith said she had hit Mr Atkinson with her baton again, three times to his legs.

Dalian Atkinson died after being tasered by PC Bettley-Smith's partner, Benjamin Monk

Earlier in the week, the hearing was told at least three different eyewitnesses, watching from their windows, had described how Mr Atkinson did not move again after he was tasered and hit the road.

But when asked why she had hit him, PC Bettley-Smith replied: "Because I desperately needed to protect myself to stop him from getting up and keep him down on the ground.

"I was terrified for what he would do to get back up.

"Everything that happened prior to this, the level of aggression, everything he had done, I needed to take control of the situation, to get him down, keep him down and try and restrain him.

"I did what I thought I had to do, in the circumstances."

The panel heard she was still a constable with the force on non front-line duties after two periods of suspension.

She told them the death of Mr Atkinson was "tragic" but at the time she had felt "it could have been the other way around".

Mr Atkinson started his career at Ipswich Town, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday, Real Sociedad, Aston Villa and Fenerbahçe in the 1990s.

The hearing continues.