Police officers charged over footballer’s death named
TWO police officers charged over the death of the footballer Dalian Atkinson have been named after their force lost an “unjustified” attempt to protect their identities.
West Mercia Pc Benjamin Monk was charged with the former Aston Villa striker’s murder last week, while his colleague Pc Mary Ellen Bettley-smith was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Both officers appeared in court last week without being asked to give their personal details, and were granted an interim Contempt of Court Act order banning publication of their names after it was argued there were risks to their safety.
Judge Simon Drew QC varied that order at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday to allow the officers to be named, after hearing legal submissions opposing the anonymity orders.
Counsel acting for six media organisations argued that the anonymity orders were an “unjustified” and serious interference with the open justice principles of common law.
Mr Atkinson, 48, who also played for Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday, died after police used a Taser near his father’s house during an incident in the Trench area of Telford in August 2016.
He went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance on his way to hospital and medics were unable to save him.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced last week that Pc Monk, 41, had been charged with murder and with unlawful act manslaughter as an alternative offence which, the CPS said, “is a lesser offence that a jury may consider if it first finds that the more serious charge has not been proved”.
Pc Bettley-smith, 29, has indicated that she will plead not guilty to the charge of assault.
Speaking last week on behalf of the family of Mr Atkinson, Kate Maynard, a solicitor from Hickman and Rose, said: “Dalian’s family welcomes the decision to put the conduct of police officers before a jury but regrets that already more than three years have passed since Dalian died.”
A plea and trial preparation hearing has been scheduled for Dec 9.