Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Fedster + 1,307]

Mark Alston appears before panel after force loses High Court ruling against IOPC last year.

Date - 4th December 2019
By - Gary Mason

A City of London DC is appearing before a misconduct hearing this week nine years after an alleged incident after his force lost a court challenge of a ruling by the IOPC that he had a case to answer.

Detective Constable Mark Alston is accused of using unreasonable force with his baton in a "violent, uncontrolled and dangerous manner" while policing a protest against student fees in London on 9 December, 2010.

Alfie Meadows, then 20, was among more than 10,000 people protesting when he suffered a brain injury requiring emergency surgery.

An investigation by the IOPC/IPCC found that PC Alston had a case to answer for gross misconduct but the City of London Police rejected its recommendation.

The force then failed in a court bid to challenge the IOPC’s direction that he should face a full hearing. The ruling, which was arrived at in October last year, followed claims by the City of London force that there was “widespread concern” among forces in England and Wales that the IOPC was directing them to bring hearings against officers with no chance of success.

The IOPC won a ruling that it was up to the disciplinary panel not the oversight body itself to decide whether a case had merit.

DC Alston, who held the rank of PC at the time of the incident, appeared in front of a disciplinary panel on Wednesday in central London nine years on.

The alleged incident is said to have taken place between 6.10pm and 6.12pm. Opening the case, Stephen Morley said: "We are going to be focusing nine years later on what happened in that two-minute window."

DC Alston was deployed to the protest, which turned violent in and around Parliament Square.

He is said to have used his "baton in a violent, uncontrolled and dangerous manner when he used it to deliver a number of downward strikes at head height towards a group of demonstrators".

The officer is also accused of using unreasonable force when he "hit Alfie Meadows on the head, causing a serious head injury".

A response to the allegations submitted on DC Alston's behalf said: "The officer accepts he wielded his baton, but denies that it was in a violent, uncontrolled and dangerous manner or was in any way disproportionate in light of the circumstances in which he was operating.

"The officer denies hitting Mr Meadows, or anyone, on the head with it."

Mr Meadows, from Southwark, in south London, was not present in the hearing room on Wednesday as he is due to give evidence on Monday.

Mr Meadows, who was studying philosophy at Middlesex University, needed more than 100 staples in his head and was left with a large scar but was charged with causing violent disorder and taken to court where he was cleared by a jury in 2013.

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[Ether + 1,398]

A great use of public money 9 years later. Budget cuts, what cuts!

[IrateShrike + 1,847]

Why wasn't DC Alston charged with any criminal offence?

[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

Probably because he dud not commit any offence. Do not forget who are behind the investigation the IOPC who are a law unto themselves and completely unbiased,  sorry typo there should be biased. I do hope that they monitor this site so they realise the level of trust in their conduct.

[gallifrey + 586]

12 hours ago, Zulu 22 said:

Probably because he dud not commit any offence. Do not forget who are behind the investigation the IOPC who are a law unto themselves and completely unbiased,  sorry typo there should be biased. I do hope that they monitor this site so they realise the level of trust in their conduct.

There’s a level of trust in their conduct 🤔🤔. You’re giving them too much credit there.

[Fedster + 1,307]

Policeman is cleared of baton attack that left student protester Alfie Meadows with brain injury in 2010 as misconduct hearing rules 'another unidentified officer' was to blame

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7785819/amp/Policeman-cleared-attack-left-protester-29-brain-injury.html

[IrateShrike + 1,847]

Even if another officer was responsible, it doesn't automatically mean they were in the wrong.

Some of the students were behaving very dangerously that day, and I know that Meadows was actually acquitted but even the judge told him after his acquittal that his behaviour was "on the edge of violent disorder".

[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

Yet another slap in the face for the IOPC. The word Independent should be replace with the word Incompetent.