Policeman accused of cell attack on woman sacked

A POLICE officer who was jailed but then cleared on appeal after being accused of throwing a woman head-first on to the concrete floor of a cell has been sacked by his force.

Sgt Mark Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging Pamela Somerville, 59, across the floor of Melksham police station in Wiltshire before shoving her into a cell. The former soldier, who remained suspended on full pay, was dismissed by Wiltshire Police after an internal conduct hearing, which was held in private.

The officer was jailed for six months in September by a district judge at Oxford Magistrates' Court, who condemned him for abusing a position of trust.

Sgt Andrews spent six days behind bars before he was released on bail pending an appeal.

Last month at Oxford Crown Court, a judge quashed his conviction and sentence for assault causing actual bodily harm. Mr Justice Bean said after the four-day hearing that he was satisfied that Sgt Andrews did not intend to throw Ms Somerville into the cell and that the injuries she had suffered were probably caused by her falling to the floor after letting go of the door frame.

Ms Somerville, who had been detained for failing to provide a sample for a breath test, needed stitches to a gash above her eye following the incident in July 2008.