PC who hit tragic soccer star Dalian can keep job

A POLICE officer found guilty of using excessive force when she repeatedly hit a footballer who later died was allowed to keep her job yesterday.

Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, 33, struck former Aston Villa player Dalian Atkinson six times with her baton during an incident in the early hours of August 15, 2016. A disciplinary panel decided

PC Bettley

Smith used excessive force, but ruled she could keep her job and gave her a final written warning.

Her colleague and former lover, PC Benjamin Monk, also from West Mercia, was jailed for eight years for manslaughter in 2021. He had Tasered Mr Atkinson, 48, and kicked him in the head outside a house in Telford, Shropshire. Mr Atkinson, pictured, died an hour later after suffering a cardiac arrest.

PC Bettley-Smith was acquitted of actual bodily harm at a retrial last year, but the police watchdog called for a gross misconduct hearing. The panel could have sacked her but was instructed by the force’s deputy chief constable to also consider a final written warning.

Elaine Atkinson, Mr Atkinson’s older sister, said she was ‘disappointed’ with the outcome, adding: ‘I suppose they [the police] look out for their own.’