Dyfed-Powys Police officer caught on camera assaulting suspect

A police officer caught on camera assaulting a handcuffed suspect and spraying PAVA in his face, has been ordered to carry out community service.

PC Jonathan Reynolds used the liquid, similar to pepper spray, while arresting a drunk man outside a Powys pub in May last year.

On Thursday he was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, at Swansea Magistrates' Court.

Reynolds, who resigned, has been barred from being a police officer.

Sentencing the former officer to 160 hours unpaid work, District Judge Christopher James said "such behaviour cannot be condoned in a modern society".

Dyfed-Powys Police said Reynolds behaviour had fallen far below the standards required of a police officer

The former Dyfed-Powys PC was found guilty of two charges of assault by beating following a trial earlier this year.

The court heard how Reynolds sprayed PAVA incapacitating spray into the face of Jamie Cruise, who was suspected of being drunk and disorderly outside Castle Vaults pub in Newtown, Powys, on 27 May.

On returning to the police station, the 35-year-old pushed the suspect to the ground "with considerable force", causing injury to his hip and wrists, before pushing him into the door, and "using abusive language".

Some of the incident was caught on another officer's body camera and by CCTV cameras at Newtown Police Station.

'Lost all faith in the police'

While he acknowledged Mr Cruise, who was later convicted for being drunk and disorderly, had provoked the officer, he said this was verbal and "didn't justify [his] actions".

In a victim impact statement, read to the court, Mr Cruise said he had "lost all faith in the police".

The court was told Reynolds' actions on that night were "wholly out of character" and fellow officers had been shocked by his actions.

Senior officers described Reynolds, who had been a police officer for 10 years, as an "ordinarily hard working" officer who "selflessly helped colleagues".

'Such behaviour will not be tolerated'

Reynolds resigned from Dyfed-Powys Police earlier this month, but a later disciplinary hearing barred him from serving in any force for five years.

After five years he will be able to appeal to the College of Policing.

At the panel the force said that the suspect was "generally unpleasant" to Reynolds and had used offensive language towards him before he sprayed him.

During an interview read out at the hearing, Reynolds said he knew the suspect could be "volatile" and thought he was going to be assaulted when he decided to use the PAVA spray.

In character references, colleagues said he had talked a suicidal man down off a bridge on the same shift that the incident occurred.

Chief Constable Mark Collins said Reynolds' behaviour had "fallen far below the standards required of a police officer".

"His actions on 27 May 2019 were unacceptable, and such behaviour will not be tolerated," he said.

Reynolds will also have to pay £500 compensation to the victim, £1,500 in legal costs and a victim surcharge of £115.