Custody officer ‘toe punted’ girl of 13 after she lashed out at him

A POLICE sergeant kicked a vulnerable girl of 13 while she was in custody.

Ian Cheesman, pictured, retaliated after the girl lashed out at him, another officer, a custody assistant and the ‘appropriate adult’ who had come to collect her.

His blow made the girl cry out. ‘How do you like being kicked?’ he asked. Cheesman, 53, told a court he was using a ‘Home Office-approved distraction technique’. But he was found guilty of assault at Portsmouth magistrates’ court.

He had been working at Chichester custody centre, West Sussex, on April 5 last year. Prosecutor Lucy Paddick said the girl, described as vulnerable, had been ‘agitated’. Cheesman said he had ‘no option’ but to act. But Mrs Paddick said he kicked the girl in ‘frustration and retaliation’. A fellow custody officer said the kick was shocking and like ‘a toe punt’. District Judge David Robinson said: ‘This was a blemish on nearly 30 years of public service.’ Cheesman, of Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, who has retired, was given a one-year community order and 50 hours of unpaid work. He must pay £625 costs.