Man sentenced for kicking officer to ground during protest

Jonathan Daley appeared at the London Inner Crown Court on Thursday (July 29) after admitting a charge of violent disorder during an earlier hearing.

On June 3 last year, the 27-year-old had joined a demonstration on Whitehall, near to Derby Gate. A group of approximately 250 protesters had become hostile to a TV film crew and police officers moved in to help them.

Some of those protesting began throwing items at police officers. Daley ran up behind one officer who had their back turned and attempted to kick him, narrowly missing.

CCTV footage then captured Daley running ahead of police officers and hiding behind railings, looking to ambush them.

As one officer passed, Daley could be seen lunging out and taking a flying kick at one officer, striking him on the upper thigh. As the officer fell to the ground, Daley could be seen running off. Social media footage showed him cheering and celebrating with the crowd.

At court he was handed a 20-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He was ordered to undertake 100 hours unpaid work, attend a probation and credited programme for 30 days and pay a victim surcharge of £200.

Detective Constable Steve Nicholls from the MPS’s Public Order Crime Team said: “It is sickening to see someone treat a police officer with such thuggish behaviour. Despite being outnumbered, those officers were trying to help a TV film crew who were being subjected to scenes of violence and hostility. It is deeply worrying to see a crowd of people become so aggressive to police officers.

“Thanks to the excellent CCTV footage on Whitehall, which captured the assault in its entirety, we were able to identify Daley swiftly and arrest him later that day in Parliament Square. Daley has been spared jail on this occasion, but if he offends again he can be sure to spend many nights behind bars.”