Updates

UFFC

Deaths in police custody reform, progress update 2021

Police at 10 Downing Street
Image credit http://www.youtube.com

source: GOV.UK
published: 20 July 2021

We are sharing the item below which links to the previous publications on this topic, listed at the end of this article.

The UK Government is committed to delivering meaningful and lasting change to prevent deaths in custody and support families. That is why on 23 July 2015, then Home Secretary Rt Hon Theresa May MP announced a major review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody, focusing on the experience of bereaved families.

This followed the former Home Secretary’s meetings with bereaved families who made clear that the system was not fit for purpose; not only in preventing deaths in police custody,

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UFFC

Dalian Atkinson: PC Benjamin Monk jailed for ex-footballer’s death

Dalian Atkinson
Dalian Atkinson – Image credit http://www.swn.com

source: BBC News
published: 29 June 2021

A police officer who unlawfully killed Dalian Atkinson by tasering him to the ground and kicking him in the head has been jailed for eight years. PC Benjamin Monk, 43, discharged his taser three times and kicked him twice in the head, leaving bootlace prints on his forehead, his trial heard.

The former Aston Villa striker died after the 2016 stand-off outside his father’s home in Telford, Shropshire. Jurors cleared Monk of an alternative charge of murder on 23 June. He will serve two-thirds of his sentence before being entitled to release on licence.

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United Families & Friends Campaign

Police officer guilty of manslaughter of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson

Dalian Atkinson
Dalian Atkinson – Image credit http://www.swn.com

source: The Guardian
published: 23 June 2021

A police officer has been convicted of the manslaughter of the former professional footballer Dalian Atkinson, after firing an electric stun gun into him for 33 seconds and kicking him twice in the head as he lay on the ground.

PC Benjamin Monk, of the West Mercia force, was convicted of the killing by a jury at Birmingham crown court.

Monk was accused of lying in court about his account, and of kicking and stamping on Atkinson’s head while he was barely conscious on the ground. He is the first police officer to be convicted of manslaughter during the course of their duties in more than three decades.

Atkinson was kicked with such force his blood was found in the laces of Monk’s police issue boots.

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