Serving MPS officer convicted of GBH
A serving officer at the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been jailed for grievous bodily harm following a five-day trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Police Constable Charlie Harrison, 39, attached to the MPS Violent Crime Task Force, had been convicted by majority verdict on Friday, March 26, and was sentenced in the same court today (April 12) to two years and three months in prison.
The conviction relates to an incident in December 2018 when a man aged in his forties was walking with his two sons along Serbert Road in Forest Gate, East London.
The man was approached by PC Harrison, who was on duty and in plain clothes, with the apparent intention of conducting a police stop.
PC Harrison then used his foot to strike the man’s legs. This caused him to fall to the ground and, as a result, suffer a fracture to the knee.
The injured man was treated in hospital for his injuries. He reported the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) as a public complaint in January 2019.
The IOPC decided the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards should carry out the investigation. PC Harrison was charged with GBH in August 2019.
Commander Paul Betts said: “This matter was subject to a thorough investigation by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards and PC Harrison charged and later convicted by a jury.
“His actions were found to have fallen well below the standard we expect of our police officers, with a man left badly injured. This type of behaviour has no place in our police service and undermines the confidence of the communities we are here to protect. Following PC Harrison’s conviction, he will now be subject to disciplinary proceedings.”
PC Harrison is suspended from duty.
