Officer exonerated over cell toilet finger severing

Allan Compton represented an Essex Police Sergeant at a three week Police Misconduct hearing. He was cleared of all charges of use of excessive force, breach of duties and responsibilities and equality and diversity standards arising from an incident occurring in a cell at Colchester Police Station in 2015.

The Sergeant, together with other officers tried to remove a Romanian national with mental health issues from a cell after he climbed into a steel toilet. During the attempted cell extraction the prisoner trapped his fingers in the toilet causing three of them to be severed completely. It was demonstrated during the hearing that the design of the toilet was defective and all officers were unaware of the danger it presented.

The Panel Chair indicated in his judgment, that the officer had used reasonable force at all times and had been exonerated by the evidence called during the hearing.

For further information, please see BBC News.