Policewoman faces retrial on charge of assaulting Dalian Atkinson

PROSECUTORS HAVE decided to seek a retrial of a police officer accused of assaulting ex-Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town footballer Dalian Atkinson.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced the move a week after a jury at Birmingham Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on 31-year-old West Mercia Pc Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith.

Prosecutors allege Pc BettleySmith used unreasonable force in striking Mr Atkinson with a baton after he had been Tasered by another officer near his childhood home in Meadow Close, Telford, Shropshire, in August 2016.

Pc Benjamin Monk was jailed for eight years earlier this week for the manslaughter of Mr Atkinson, after jurors cleared him of an alternative charge of murder.

Mr Atkinson, 48, went into cardio-respiratory arrest and died around an hour later after being taken to hospital by ambulance.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of special crime at the CPS, said it had informed the court that the Crown will seek a retrial of Pc Bettley-Smith on a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ms Ainslie said: “We remind everyone that criminal proceedings are active and that Ms Bettley-Smith has a right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

A previous hearing was told a retrial of Pc Bettley-Smith is unlikely to take place until next year.

In a statement after the case, Mr Atkinson’s siblings Paul, Kenroy, Elaine and Otis, said: “We pay tribute to all the bereaved families of black men who have died at the hands of the police and whose fight for justice has not led to successful prosecutions.

“It shouldn’t take the death of a famous footballer for the criminal justice system to work properly and we hope that more families can secure justice in future.”