Man claims he was assaulted by British police when companion was arrested for drink-driving

The boyfriend of EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth has claimed his head 'exploded like an egg' when he was pushed into a police van during her drink-driving arrest. Dave Fairbairn was a passenger in the actress' car when police detained her on a night out last month, prompting a clash with officers which led to him receiving a penalty for public disorder.

Now Mr Fairbairn, 59, is said to have appealed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission claiming he was assaulted.

He told Lewis Panther of the Sunday People: 'The copper who kept telling me to stop swearing pushed my head hard. And all I could see is a girder come towards me. 'My head just exploded like an egg. It went everywhere. Because it was a white floor you could see how soaked it was. I was covered.

'If I had seen someone covered in that much blood it would have been straight to hospital... They took me straight to a police cell.'

Photographs of him leaving a police station later appeared to show a trickle of dried blood on his forehead, with smears around his nose and right eye.

The pair were stopped at 1.25am on a Saturday morning, five miles from her £900,000 home in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

Mr Fairbairn said officers knew Ms Taylforth's name as soon as they tapped on the window of her car, which he said she was moving a few metres to avoid being clamped.

As she was arrested he insisted he swore just once - saying 'for f***'s sake' at the general situation and not at any individual officer.

But he riled police by filming his girlfriend's arrest on his phone, Mr Fairbairn claimed.

The former stockbroker - who was jailed for 15 years in 2003 over one of Britain's biggest ecstasy-smuggling plots - was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and taken to a police station. He was released after Hertfordshire Police served him with a fixed penalty notice, which he said he is appealing.

His girlfriend, who has made a surprise return to EastEnders as Kathy Beale after a nine-year break, was also arrested and was charged with drink driving. She appeared before Stevenage Magistrates' Court on Monday and was granted unconditional bail ahead of a full hearing in May.

A Hertfordshire police spokesman said earlier: 'The 59-year-old was arrested at 1.25am on February 7 in Fore Street, Hertford. She has been charged with drink driving.'

At the time of the court case, it was the biggest drugs raid in history after police found 839,500 ecstasy tablets worth an estimated £7.5million.

He is already suing a different police force over a similar argument in 2013 when he was accused of drink driving on the M62 in Merseyside, he told the Sunday People.

His solicitor could not be reached for comment.

A Hertfordshire Police spokesman said: 'We can confirm that a complaint was received, via the Independent Police Complaints Commission, on February 24, and is being assessed by the Beds, Cambs and Herts Professional Standards Unit.'

Original report here

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