A Derbyshire police officer has been convicted of headbutting a businessman after a minor disagreement in queuing traffic.
PC 14308 Mark Knights, 34, was found guilty of one charge of assault by beating after a two-day trial at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 4th December 2020.
Assault by beating, an offence contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, has a maximum sentence of 26 weeks’ custody on summary conviction.
Knights, who was based at Matlock Police Station, was driving a marked police van and wearing uniform when he assaulted a local businessman in the village of Ambergate on Thursday, 21st November 2019. The details given below form the prosecution case, which has been accepted by the court.
It was just after midday and the rogue constable had been on his way to assist with an arrest in the village when he got snarled up in traffic.
Knights exited the police van and spoke to the victim - local businessman Ben Joynes - who was driving the car immediately in front in the queue of traffic. He asked Mr Joynes to pull over and make way for the police van, but Mr Joynes refused saying there was insufficient space to manoeuvre. Mr Joynes’ teenage son was present in the back of the car and witnessed the events that were about to unfold.
Mr Joynes suggested to Knights - who stands 6 ft 4 in tall and weighs in at 17 stones - that he was "a big boy" and could walk down to the location of the arrest. Knights took umbrage at Mr Joynes’ comment and started to take photographs of him and his car.
In response Mr Joynes got out of his car and took some photographs of PC Knights, one of which appears at the top of this article. Mr Joynes returned to his car and as he was driving away PC Knights leant towards his open window, told him to "fuck off" and called him "a fat cunt".
Mr Joynes stopped his car, got out and asked PC Knights to provide his name and collar number. PC Knights responded by headbutting him in the face, slamming him to the ground and placing him in handcuffs. He was left with a split lip, which bled profusely.
Knights then dragged Mr Joynes into the back of the police van, despite his protestations that he had done nothing wrong. The businessman asked the irate officer the reason for his arrest, to which Knights arrogantly replied "I don't know yet". Mr Joynes was released a short time later by officers very apologetic at their colleague's conduct.
For his part Knights never denied violently headbutting Mr Joynes - he couldn’t do really, given that it occurred in broad daylight and right under the noses of several witnesses.
Instead he offered the wholly implausible defence - which was flatly rejected by the court - that he had pre-emptively headbutted Mr Joynes, who at only 5 ft 7 in cuts a much less imposing figure, in the belief he was about to turn violent.
The proceedings in this case are unusual in that they were initiated by a private individual, Rob Warner, who is the author of the Crimebodge website. In the interests of balance it should be noted that Mr Warner campaigns against police misconduct, which no doubt spurred his participation in this particular prosecution. He has a particular gripe against Derbyshire Constabulary, which is his local force.
Subject to a few minor exceptions, any individual has the right under section 6 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 to institute criminal proceedings against an alleged offender. Organisations like TV Licensing and the RSPCA regularly institute proceedings in these circumstances. It would appear that Mr Warner commenced proceedings after Mr Joynes receiving an unsatisfactory resolution via Derbyshire Constabulary’s own complaints procedure. The CPS later took over the prosecution.
An extract from the relevant sentencing guideline is shown below. Given the information available, Knights’ offence would appear to fall into at least Category 2 and is quite possibly Category 1.
District Judge Andrew Meachin, who presided over the two-day trial, accused Knights of "despicable abuse" and "inexplicably inflaming the situation" with Mr Joynes.
The Judge said: "In a moment of aberration you struck a man and with the passage of time you have convinced yourself you acted lawfully.
"Undoubtedly this marks the end of your career."
Knights was handed a 12 month community order with a 6 month tagged curfew requirement.
He was also ordered to pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs, £90 victim surcharge and a modest £100 in compensation to Mr Joynes.
Words cannot express my disgust and disappointment at Knights' conduct.
The public quite rightly expects police officers to demonstrate the highest standards of honesty, integrity, diligence and impartiality. Knights has fallen well short of the mark on all four of those counts. He has brought shame on himself and no doubt eroded public confidence in Derbyshire Constabulary. His criminal actions will cost the taxpayer many thousands of pounds - think at least five figures.
I am sure Derbyshire Constabulary will agree that Knights' position is now utterly untenable. I will write an update on the inevitable outcome of his future misconduct panel hearing.
Update (14/3/21): The misconduct hearing of PC 14308 Mark Knights has been scheduled for Friday, 19th March 2021.
Update (19/3/21): Read the outcome of the misconduct hearing.
Update (15/10/21): Knights, now an ex-police officer, has now been convicted of harassing a female police colleague.
Update (3/9/22): Derbyshire Constabulary has reportedly paid Mr Joynes around £20,000 in settlement.
11 comments:
Whilst it may not be within the purview of magistrates to request it, I would hope there would be some sort of official investigation as to Derbyshire Constabulary’s complaints procedures as to why they felt that this case was not worth pursuing.
I am sure there will be. Yet again, it would appear that Derbyshire Constabulary has questions to answer and failings to address.
Unfortunately the 'unduly lenient' sentencing scheme does not apply to magistrate court convictions, because if it did I would appeal against Knights' manifestly lenient sentence. Try as I might the original district judge who heard my application for prosecution refused to issue any summons for an indictible offence, under s26 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 and false imprisonment at common law. Private prosecution is a massive uphill struggle, even more so when the intended defendant is a police officer.
Thanks for your comment Crimebodge. This conviction is vindication of all the barriers that had to be overcome in order to even get the case as far as court. Being tagged in his home overnight for six months, coupled with losing his job and being ostracised by his colleagues is pretty harsh punishment. I am sure the DJ carefully considered the information to hand. I would agree that £100 is insufficient compensation, but the civil case will see Mr Joynes awarded many times as much.
What are the Chief Constables comments on Knights behaviour?
You'd have to ask her.
What questions will ever be answered truthfully as to why the force or his colleagues or the CPS or the PSB or the Ipcc or the MP not act. All swept under the carpet or so they thought. The CPS were forced to take over the prosecution.
This is a good result, and just proves how unfit for purpose the police complaints system is. Police policed by police is never going to work it seems all about saving face and not about the complainants. The only publc sector in society that has no public oversight such as an ombudsman the public can approach for an independent view.
Gaol is a "pretty harsh punishment". He got a slap on the wrist.
Since he has been sacked for misconduct surely Derbyshire police could be sued for their part in employing knight.
I believe a civil claim was made against Derbyshire Constabulary, but I am not sure of the outcome (although wouldn't be surprised if they had settled).
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