Four Merseyside Police officers standing trial over a brawl in a packed bar had "unquestionable integrity" and were calm in the face of trouble, according to their supervisor.
Temporary Inspector Emma Haffenden told a jury she believed the officers had not done anything wrong during the incident in Ava's Bar, Liverpool City Centre, on July 28, 2020. T/Insp Haffenden, who was a sergeant at the time of the brawl, was present in the bar as her team enjoyed a night out celebrating a colleague being posted to a new department.
PCs Sean Miley, 31 and Paul Grimes, 37, deny assault causing actual bodily harm while PCs John Thompson, 26, and Lucy Donaldson, 40, deny affray. A jury at Preston Crown Court has heard the night turned sour at around 10.37pm, when Thompson clashed with a fellow bar customer Mark Bennett outside the toilet area, seconds before Miley forced Mr Bennett's 18-year-old brother, Jack Bennett, into a disused toilet cubicle.
