A Greater Manchester Police special constable who assaulted a seven-year-old boy has been barred from policing following a misconduct hearing.
Andrew Parkinson, who worked in GMP's Bolton district, was convicted of assault last June after a trial heard he grabbed the boy round the neck and shoulders after being 'accidentally' sprayed during a water fight.
Parkinson, of Bolton, picked the boy up and carried him to his parents' house where his dad opened the front door to find him 'terrified and white as a sheet', Liverpool Magistrates court previously heard.
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The officer, 55, who had worked as a special constable for 35 years, resigned from the force in September, last year. A misconduct hearing this week concluded that he would have been dismissed had he not done so.
Liverpool Magistrates Court previously heard that Parkinson was walking through the Bolton street where both he and the boy's family lived at the time.
The boy, who can't be named for legal reasons, was playing with other kids who lived nearby and they were spraying each other with water. Prosecutor, Joshua Sanderson-Kirk, said the boy accidentally sprayed Parkinson with water, and he immediately became angry, got face to face with the boy and started telling him off.
The court heard the boy then tripped and fell towards him. Mr Sanderson-Kirk said: "His forehead made contact with Mr Parkinson. He then took hold of [the boy] around his neck and shoulders, picked him up and carried him to his father’s house."
He said the dad opened the door to see his son looking 'terrified and white as a sheet'. A neighbour sitting nearby and the other children who had been playing with the boy also saw the incident, and an argument then broke out close to the boy’s home before Parkinson was reported to the police.
Parkinson denied assault by beating, saying he was acting in self defence after what he thought at the time was an attempted head-butt by the boy, but was convicted after a trial.
The boy did not suffer significant injuries but was shaken by the incident. District Judge Wendy Lloyd said that in interviews with the probation service after the trial Parkinson appeared to accept that what he did amounted to assault - but he then said he didn't think it was wrong.
Ben Berkson, defending, said his client, who is described as a 'devout Christian', deeply regretted the incident and wanted to compensate the boy's family. Mr Berkson added that Parkinson realised he was very likely to be stripped of his role as a special constable, something he had done for 35 years. He had already been suspended by GMP.
Parkinson, of Willows Lane, Bolton, was ordered to pay prosecution costs and £250 compensation to the boy’s family. He must also carry out unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation days with the probation service.
A misconduct panel, chaired by Chief Constable Stephen Watson on 12 January 2023, decided the incident amounted to gross misconduct and was a sackable offence.
Summing up, CC Watson said: "Mr Parkinson’s offending behaviour was clearly unlawful, contrary to the clearest of instructions as to the standards required of our officers, and reckless as to the potential risk of injury to another implied in his actions.
"What is clear to me is that this episode marks a regrettable lapse in judgement. His behaviour is at odds with the fact that as an effective volunteer police officer, Mr Parkinson was held to be an otherwise decent and hard-working officer, who has shown sustained commitment to public service for over three decades.
"It remains clear, however, that all of these positive personal attributes do not outweigh the potential for the loss of confidence that would ensue if Mr Parkinson would have been permitted to continue to perform in the office of constable.
"Had Mr Parkinson not resigned, I would have dismissed him from the service." Parkinson has been placed on the College of Policing Barred List.
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