Spared jail, drunk policeman who assaulted woman on her walk home
AN off-duty police officer who attacked a woman as she walked home alone has been spared jail – prompting a leading female MP to claim that the ‘system fails women and protects men’.
Drunken PC Oliver Banfield grabbed mother-of-two Emma Homer on a dark street, tried to tackle her to the ground and put her into a headlock.
Banfield, who kept his job while an investigation into the attack was held, was instead given a curfew and ordered to pay costs of £680. He was spared jail after his lawyer argued it would be ‘difficult’ for him to work with criminals.
It comes amid widespread shock after Sarah Everard, 33, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by police firearms officer Wayne Couzens, 48.
CCTV played in court yesterday showed the moment Banfield took hold of Mrs Homer in an attempt to perform an ‘unlawful arrest’ using techniques taught in police training.
He drags her across the pavement, yelling: ‘On the floor now, on the floor now.’ Banfield’s partner can be heard trying to stop him.
When Mrs Homer tries to push him away and shouts ‘get off me’ he accuses her of ‘disorder’ and ‘assault’ and appears to try to call for backup. When she manages to get free and flee the scene, Banfield shouts after her, calling her a ‘f ****** slag’.
Judge Nick Watson said Banfield, 25, who serves with West Midlands Police, had ‘demonstrated his hostility to the victim based on her sex’.
The judge said the officer had ‘abused his power’ but declined to impose a community penalty and ordered Banfield to observe a 14-week curfew and pay his victim £500 compensation and court costs totalling £180 after admitting assault by beating.
Leicester Magistrates’ Court heard Banfield, of Bidford-onAvon, Warwickshire, had been on a night out and was drunk when he accused Mrs Homer, who lives in the same village and was walking home, of following him.
Mrs Homer, 37, said the attack last July left her suffering from stress, panic attacks and insomnia and needing therapy.
She said she also felt deeply let down by the police investigation after it took officers 30 hours to take a phone statement. It was a week before she saw a police officer face-to-face while it took officers eight weeks to visit the scene, by which point additional CCTV had been erased.
When the Warwickshire force then presented a case file to the Crown Prosecution Service in September, it was decided not to charge Banfield.
He was only charged when Mrs Homer, aided by the Women’s
Justice Centre, asked for the CPS’ decision to be reviewed.
Banfield’s sentencing comes in a week when the conduct of officers is under intense scrutiny.
Mrs Homer said the fact her attacker was a police officer had shaken her belief system ‘to the core’. She added: ‘The effect on my children when they found out my assailant was a police officer was incredibly sad.
‘It’s unfathomable to them that a person whose job is to serve and protect would attack and hurt their family.’
Labour MP Harriet Harman said on Twitter: ‘Must have been terrifying for her but no prison sentence. This is proof, if any needed, that system fails women and protects men.’
West Midlands Police said the officer was suspended pending the outcome of a disciplinary process. Banfield declined to comment as he left court. His solicitor said he was ‘sincerely sorry’ for what had happened.
‘Shaken to the core’