PC's blows against Dalian Atkinson 'outrageous'

PC Bettley-Smith's lawyer said of the events: "There's a huge difference between reading about it, and being there"

A PC's second set of blows to ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson on the night he was killed by her colleague was "wholly unjustified" and "outrageous", a disciplinary panel has heard.

Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith beat Mr Atkinson multiple times with her baton as he lay on the ground in 2016.

A criminal retrial last year acquitted her of actual bodily harm.

In a separate police hearing, she denies excessive force amounting to gross misconduct.

Mr Atkinson died after being tasered and kicked in the head by PC Bettley-Smith's West Mercia Police colleague, and romantic partner, PC Benjamin Monk, who was jailed for Mr Atkinson's manslaughter in 2021.

The panel, sitting in Telford on Thursday, heard how the PCs had responded to a 999 call, arriving to find Mr Atkinson outside his father's Telford home, appearing "in the grip of a psychotic episode".

The hearing was told how PC Bettley-Smith, 33, had initially hit Mr Atkinson three times with her baton.

With Mr Atkinson tasered and kicked by Monk, she struck the former Aston Villa, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday striker a further three times, telling the panel she was "looking over her right shoulder" to see back-up arriving.

Outlining the case against her, Dijen Basu KC said: "The second set [of blows] were wholly unnecessary, wholly unreasonable, wholly unjustified and above all, to use normal language, it was outrageous to do that in the circumstances.

"The man had just been kicked in the head, having been tasered, and dropped to the floor, and with other officers arriving."

PC Benjamin Monk was found guilty of the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson but cleared of his murder

PC Bettley-Smith told the panel during her evidence on Wednesday: "I just remember what I perceived to be a really aggressive, hostile, growling [person] and just thought we had antagonised him even more by tasering 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."

But the hearing previously heard that at least three different residents, watching from their windows, described how Mr Atkinson did not move once felled by the taser.

A joint medical report summary recorded Mr Atkinson probably hit his head on the road as he was grounded by a 33-second-long taser burst, and this was "likely to have caused concussion, exacerbated by any kick or kicks to the head" which would possibly have "deepened any loss of consciousness".

The report concluded it was "possible... he was too exhausted to move once the taser was turned off".

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

In his closing arguments, Patrick Gibbs, Bettley-Smith's barrister, said: "To state the very obvious, this is a short incident, takes place in the dark, it was unexpected, violent.

"Although we examine it in calm and peaceful circumstances, unless you have ever been threatened with violence and had to face it, it may be it is hard to appreciate fully what it's like.

"There's a huge difference between reading about it, and being there."

The panel is set to deliver its finding on Friday, with PC Bettley-Smith facing the sack if the hearing finds against her.

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