Two Merseyside Police officers are on trial accused of forcing a man into a toilet cubicle, punching him repeatedly in the face and then tipping him upside down into a dirty toilet bowl.
PCs Sean Miley, 31, and Paul Grimes, 37, who were off duty at the time, are also alleged to have smashed the man's head so hard against the toilet that it broke. Miley allegedly then used a shard of broken ceramic from the shattered toilet to cause a laceration to the leg of the complainant, Jack Bennett, during a brawl in Ava's Bar on Renshaw Street, Liverpool City Centre.
The officers are standing trial at Preston Crown Court accused of assaulting Mr Bennett causing actual bodily harm, leaving him bloodied and bruised and requiring hospital treatment. Two of their colleagues, PCs John Thompson, 26, and Lucy Donaldson, 40, are also in the dock accused of affray in relation to the brawl, on July 28, 2020, shortly after lockdown restrictions were eased. The officers deny the charges.
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Fiona Clancy, prosecuting, told a jury of eight men and four women: "[Jack Bennett] provided a statement to the police. He alleged that both defendants, Miley and Grimes, assaulted him within that toilet area. He alleged that he was repeatedly punched to the face, causing him to fall to the floor. His head was thereafter pushed down the blocked toilet which contained faeces and liquid which he inhaled and swallowed.
"His head was also slammed against the toilet so hard that it caused it to break. You will see the toilet itself, broken into pieces and appearing to have become detached from the wall.
"During the course of the assault, he found himself at one point caught upright in the broken toilet with his legs in the air. It is at this point he felt a sharp pinch to his leg which he believes was lacerated by the taller of the two officers [Miley] with a shard of broken ceramic from the toilet."
The court heard that on the night of the incident a group of Merseyside Police officers were on a night out celebrating a colleague, Simon Duffy, being a moved to a new department. Jack Bennett and his brother, Mark Bennett, were also in the bar, along with another man who has not been identified.
Ms Clancy said there did not appear to be any tension or aggression between the two groups initially, and the CCTV appeared to show a number of seemingly normal interactions before the incidents began.
The court heard that on that evening, the men's toilet cubicle was marked 'out-of-order' and male customers were directed to use the female toilet cubicle by a sign posted on the door. Ms Clancy said that shortly after 10.27pm, Mark and Jack Bennett were recorded on CCTV entering the toilet area at around the same time as Miley, Grimes, Thompson and another of their colleagues, witness Steven Auguste.
In CCTV footage, played to the jury, the Bennett brothers are seen to emerge from the cubicle, and then Mark Bennett is seen to speak to Miley, who was waiting by the door of the women's cubicle.
Ms Clancy told the jury: "The Crown say that Mark Bennett can be seen to raise his hand up in what appears to be a non-aggressive and greeting type manner. At that stage the defendant Thompson appears to move aggressively between the defendant Miley and the complainant Jack Bennett and directly towards Mark Bennett, which results in Thompson and Mark Bennett taking hold of each other."
The court heard Mr Auguste also moved towards Mark Bennett and made physical contact with him. CCTV showed the three men spill out of the toilet area into the main bar area, where Mark Bennett falls to the floor. Mr Auguste was described as trying to drag Thompson away and push him out of the bar to "diffuse the situation".
During this incident, Donaldson became involved in trying to restrain Mark Bennett. However she was described as then angrily confronting bar worker Lorraine Brady, before grabbing hold of her hair and pulling her head down. Ms Clancy told the jury that Ms Brady did not appear to retaliate to this alleged attack.
The jury heard that after a short while Mr Auguste managed to bundle Thompson out of the bar and ushered him right, towards Brownlow Hill.
Meanwhile, a moment after Thompson moved towards Mark Bennett, Miley was recorded taking hold of Jack Bennett by the neck and shoulder and pushing him into the disused male toilet cubicle, closely followed by Grimes.
As the three men entered the cubicle, the door shut behind them and remained closed for a "sustained period" of around one minute and 30 seconds. During that time, Donaldson could be seen to walk into the toilet area, open the door and look inside the male cubicle, before turning around and walking back into the main bar area.
A short time later, Mr Auguste also opened the cubicle door and looked inside, before walking back into the main bar area. Miley and Grimes were then recorded leaving the cubicle, with Grimes seen to seemingly re-fasten his watch onto his wrist. Jack Bennett was then seen to emerge with what Ms Clancy described as a "bloody mouth and a closed eye".
The court heard the violence was still not over, and shortly before Miley, Grimes and then Jack Bennett left the toilet area, Thompson came back inside the bar, pushed a member of the public out of the way causing him to fall into a booth, and clashed with Mark Bennett again.
Ms Clancy told the jury: "At this moment Jack Bennett leaves the toilet area and sees his brother in a physical confrontation with Thompson. The CCTV shows Jack Bennett move towards Thompson, pick up a glass from the bar in his left hand and transfer it to his right before striking Thompson over the head causing Thompson to fall to the floor, unconscious. That behaviour does not form part of this indictment."
On the night Mark Bennett was arrested for affray, while Thompson, seen being helped to his feet holding the top of his head, was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital. Ms Clancy said he suffered a large bump to the top of his head.
Jack Bennett, however, was picked up in the city centre by his sister, Kelsey Bennett, who took him to hospital. Ms Clancy told the jury: "He was examined at hospital and reported blurred vision. A bruise was apparent the right eyebrow and a laceration measuring 2cm to the right lower leg were recorded. This had to be stitched.
"The CCTV footage also shows that he had facial bleeding. [Kelsey Bennett] describes Jack Bennett’s eyes as being red whilst the side of his head appeared to be bruised and swollen. His nose was bleeding. He was holding his ribs and appeared to have difficulty breathing."
She added: "Jack Bennett himself also lists a split lip, cut to the eye and a nose injury. Those injuries are in deep contrast to the presentation of defendants Grimes and Miley who appear relatively unscathed on the CCTV leaving that toilet cubicle, in which the Crown say they unlawfully assaulted Jack Bennett, causing him those injuries."
The four officers were later interviewed over the incident and gave prepared statements, before remaining silent to questioning. Miley and Grimes claimed they "restrained" Jack Bennett to stop him assaulting members of their group. Miley claimed he had merely used a "distraction strike" to Mr Bennett's left rib area, and that the complainant fell backwards causing the toilet to break.
Grimes said earlier on in the night, Donaldson had "recognised Mark Bennett from her role as a police officer" and that Mr Bennett had "stared over at them", causing him to speak to Mark Bennett to "try and clear the air". In his statement he claimed he had gone to use the toilet and emerged to find Jack Bennett and Miley in an altercation, so joined his colleague to restrain Jack Bennett. Both Miley and Grimes said they "did not recall" what caused the situation to come to an end.
Thompson told detectives his actions were "proportionate, reasonable and justified" and said that he took hold of Mark Bennett after seeing him raise his arm, which he interpreted as an "aggressive action". He claimed he returned to the bar after being escorted out by Mr Auguste because he "believed his colleagues were in danger" and then that Mark Bennett was "moving towards them".
Donaldson claimed she assisted another of her colleagues, Emma Heffenden, to restrain Mark Bennett after Thompson had grabbed hold of him. She told detectives, via her prepared statement, that bar worker Ms Brady then told her to "get the f*** off him", and became "shouty and aggressive". She claimed that, believing she was about to be attacked, she grabbed Ms Brady's hair to pull her down and remove what she saw as Ms Brady's height advantage.
Ms Clancy told the jury that the question for them will be whether the officers used "necessary, reasonable, proportionate self-defence", or whether they were "acting in unlawful violence".
Grimes, of Childwall Valley Road, Childwall; Miley, 31, of Redbank Close, Fazakerley; Donaldson, 40, of Sergrim Road, Huyton and Thompson, 26, of Benedict Street, Bootle all pleaded not guilty to the charges on the indictment at an earlier hearing.
The trial is estimated to last for around three weeks.
(PROCEEDING)
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