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.
READ MORE: Alleyway cordoned off after person 'sexually assaulted' in daytime attack
Miley was followed into the cubicle by Grimes, before the door closed and the three men remained out of view of CCTV cameras for around a minute and 30 seconds, with the two officers emerging a few seconds before Mr Bennett walked out with a visibly bloody nose.
The younger Mr Bennett has alleged that the two off-duty officers subjected him to a sustained beating which included dunking him head-first into a filthy toilet full of faeces, slamming him into the toilet so hard it shattered, and Miley stabbing him in the leg with a shard of broken porcelain.
Meanwhile, as Thompson and Mark Bennett grappled in the main bar area, PC Lucy Donaldson is alleged to have used unlawful violence towards bar worker Lorraine Brady. The jury has heard Donaldson grabbed her by the hair after Ms Brady objected to her attempting to restrain Mr Bennett.
Today T/Insp Haffenden told the jury that she supervised the officers as part of her role in the Targeted Team based out of Edge Hill Police Station, a "proactive" unit whose role included carrying out search warrants as well as policing large events in the city centre.
In court today, she was questioned by barristers for each defendant. Charlotte Rimmer, representing Paul Grimes, asked whether there had been any issues with her client during the two years T/Insp Haffenden had supervised him.
She replied: "He's probably one of the best members of my team, and one of the most proactive; proactive in terms of work-rate and in terms of intelligence reports submitted, in terms of arrests made. He is a massive asset."
Ms Rimmer also asked what the witness made of his integrity. T/Insp Haffenden said: "It is unquestionable. He was an officer you would go to if you wanted someone you could trust, if you needed something done right. There was never any issue with his ethics, or with his colleagues, he just came in and did his job."
Philip Astbury, representing Sean Miley, asked similar questions about his client, also a member of T/Insp Haffenden's team. She said: "Sean Miley was also one of the more proactive members of my team. He was very happy-go-lucky, always up for a laugh. He was very cool, calm and collected while out on a job."
T/Insp Haffenden said Miley had to deal with violent situations on an "almost daily basis". Mr Astbury asked: "Have you ever seen him lose his temper, have you ever seen him take the bait, so to speak, from members of the public?"
T/Insp Haffenden said she had never seen that happen, and said she saw no signs that his "happy-go-lucky" demeanour had changed before the incident involving Mr Bennett.
Richard Orme, representing John Thompson, asked T/Insp Haffenden to confirm that she had sent his client to see a specialist about his "clumsiness" on jobs, which led to a diagnosis of dyspraxia. The jury has heard Thompson told detectives in interview that he believed his dyspraxia meant his actions on the CCTV footage may have been "misinterpreted".
The jury were told Thompson had even been given the nickname "lofty", after once accidentally knocking himself unconscious with a loft hatch while executing a search warrant. T/Insp Haffenden said she found Thompson to be "professional and honest" and there was "never any issues with his ethics".
Stephen Grattage, representing Lucy Donaldson, asked the witness about his client's reputation at work. T/Insp Haffenden said Donaldson was considered the "mother-hen" and had a very "calming" nature which made her ideal for diffusing potentially violent situations.
Mr Grattage questioned T/Insp Haffenden about her efforts to restrain Mark Bennett alongside his client, after they saw him grappling with Thompson. The witness said she had "made an assumption" that because Thompson was attempting to grab hold of Mr Bennett that he was attempting to detain him because an offence may have been committed.
CCTV footage, played to the jury, showed the two women holding onto Mr Bennett after he had been separated from Thompson. At that stage Ms Brady was seen to emerge from behind the bar and confront the officers, at one stage, according to Mr Grattage, appearing to "punch out" at T/Insp Haffenden.
T/Insp Haffenden described Ms Brady as being "aggressive" and said she feared she would be assaulted by her. Mr Grattage asked if she was "glad" Donaldson had taken hold of Ms Brady's hair, and she responded "very glad".
Mr Grattage also suggested that when Thompson and Mr Bennett were grappling on the floor of the bar, his client pushed two men away before they could become involved using a "palm-strike" to "create space". He said: "That was brave wasn't it?"
T/Insp Haffenden replied: "Yes, very brave." She said in her opinion Donaldson had "controlled" the situation and she was "very happy" with the decisions her colleague had taken that night.
The trial continues.
READ NEXT:
Drug courier who left £60k of cocaine in Tesco carrier bag caught after crashing stolen motorbike
Man arrested after boy, 4, mauled by dog
Subway restaurant temporarily closed after 'mice problem'
Vile Pets at Home worker found with indecent images of children on phone
Man, 26, dies after choking on piece of meat during pub lunch
