UK

Police officer who killed ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson jailed for eight years

Benjamin Monk convicted of manslaughter last week after kicking Atkinson twice in head

West Mercia Police constable Benjamin Monk: A jury found his use of a stun gun for 33 seconds and at least two kicks to Atkinson’s head killed him. Photograph: Jacob King/PA Wire

Vikram Dodd
Tue Jun 29 2021 - 15:22

The police officer who killed the former footballer Dalian Atkinson, kicking him in the head while he was down on the ground, has been jailed for eight years.

PC Benjamin Monk was convicted last week of manslaughter after a jury found his use of a stun gun for 33 seconds and at least two kicks to Atkinson's head killed him.

Monk (43) was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Melbourne Inman QC at Birmingham crown court.

Monk, who serves with the West Mercia force, is the first British police officer in more than three decades to be convicted of manslaughter during the course of his duties.

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Dalian Atkinson after scoring in the 1994 Coca Cola Cup final for Aston Villa against Manchester United. Photograph: Action Images via Reuters

His conviction came after he set upon Atkinson on August 15th, 2016. Police were called to a disturbance with Atkinson acting in an erratic and out of character fashion having gone to Meadow Close, Telford, where his father lived.

The late-night incident involving police officers and Atkinson (48) lasted six minutes.

Police used a stun gun on Atkinson, which failed to stop him. The prosecution accepted that the first five minutes of force by police was lawful; it was the final minute in which excessive and unlawful force was used by Monk.

Atkinson was kicked with such force that his blood was found in the laces of Monk’s police-issue boots, and imprints from them found on the forehead of the former Aston Villa striker.

One witness said when Atkinson was kicked while on the ground his head snapped back.

Monk was seen with his boot rested on Atkinson’s head. Atkinson by then was barely conscious and would be pronounced dead within 70 minutes.

Following his conviction, Monk is expected to face a fast-track disciplinary hearing and be sacked from the police, which he joined in 2002. – Guardian

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