'Scheming' British cop who was caught on CCTV punching woman three times and dragging her by her hair

A police officer who was filmed dragging a woman by the hair and punching her three times in the head has lost his appeal against the conviction for assault.

James Kiddie was branded 'dishonest' and 'scheming' by a judge after claiming the woman, Sarah Reed, had provoked his behaviour by biting him.

The 45-year-old Metropolitan Police officer was convicted of the assault in March at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

He was given a 12-month community order and told to complete 150 hours of community service in addition to paying £500 in costs.

But the father-of-two appealed the conviction, claiming Miss Reed had threatened him with violence before he attacked her in the office at Uniqlo in Regent Street, London, in November 2012.

Today a judge rejected his version of events after it emerged he had tried to convince a witness to corroborate his claims.

In the video, forces the woman back into a chair before grabbing her head and dragging her by the hair on the floor.

He is then seen to punch her in the head three times as she lies cowering with her arms in front of her face.

Today, Mr Recorder Paul Taylor told the disgraced officer: ‘The appellant we found to be dishonest, scheming and to exaggerate.

'Watching the video it was clear that Miss Reed never made any movement which he could construe as threatening and in fact there was evidence undermining the claim he felt threatened on the video itself.

‘For example he went through the handbag of Miss Reed on the floor in a position where if Miss Reed had wanted to assault him she had the ideal opportunity.

‘The fact that he was willing to look through the bag in that position speaks volumes.’

During his trial, Kiddie claimed the woman bit his finger and told him she had AIDS.

Pointing to the CCTV footage, Kiddie had said: ‘She is now biting into my index finger and she’s telling me she’s got the AIDS virus.’

‘I didn’t want to break a lady’s nose... I didn’t want to hurt her somewhere that is going to damage,’ he said.

But today Judge Taylor said the claim the man felt threatened was unfounded, rejecting claims the woman told him she had AIDS as a witness would have heard it.

'We also noted that he took phone calls at a time when he claims he felt under threat.

‘The fact that he did not call for back-up also supports the prosecution’s case that his claim that he felt threatened is one which is simply untrue.

‘We find that the escalation in this situation was largely caused by the appellant.

‘Grabbing somebody by the hair and pulling them off their feet and throwing them down is likely to cause anybody to act aggressively although in fact she did not.

‘There may have been some contact between his hand and the teeth of Miss Reed but he has exaggerated beyond all recognition of what really happened.’ He added Kiddie’s attempt to manipulate a witness’s account was ‘scheming’.

‘That is an indictment of a man who was trying to find a way out of behaviour which he knew had been badly wrong,’ said Judge Taylor.

Kiddie had also dramatically changed his accounts after initially claiming Ms Reed was ‘spitting all the time’ and saying ‘there were bits of phlegm going everywhere’.

He claimed his punches were launched with ‘half-power’ with the fleshy part of his hand.

Judge Taylor concluded Kiddie’s actions were neither ‘necessary, proportionate or reasonable’.

He will face a misconduct hearing in November.

Original report here

　

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