British police officer convicted of brutal assault released from prison after six days [View All]

[Hannah Bell]

British police sergeant Mark Andrews, 37, convicted of the brutal assault of a 57-year-old woman, was released from prison after only six days. He had been found guilty at a magistrates court hearing in Oxford earlier in the summer and was sentenced at the beginning of September to six months in prison...The horrific events that followed were caught on the police station CCTV system. The CCTV footage was played on national television news, following the sentencing of Andrews in September this year. Andrews can be heard shouting at her, “Oh shut up. Listen to me. You are in my custody now and you will be quiet and you will listen. Do you understand?”

The footage then shows Andrews, who is over six feet tall, dragging Somerville across the floor of the police station lobby and throwing her face down on the concrete floor of the police cell. Somerville, stunned by the brutal treatment, slowly comes to and gets to her feet. Blood can be seen gushing from a gash above her left eye. She then staggers around the cell calling out for help.

An ambulance was eventually called, and Somerville was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath. With blood spurting from her mouth, she reports fearing she was going to die when being driven to the hospital. At the hospital she received stitches for the gash above her eye. Photos taken at the time show her left eye almost completely closed, and her shirt covered in blood. She was never charged with any offence.

Even though convicted of a serious assault and sentenced to six months, he was released on bail after less than a week pending an appeal at a hearing behind closed doors at Oxford Crown Court.
Given the publicity surrounding the case, the police authority had no option other than to dismiss him from the police service. But he is now back on full pay, pending the hearing.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/poli-s27.shtml