Dalian Atkinson: Police officer accused of murder struck ex-footballer as he was ‘terrified’, court hears

PC Benjamin Monk does not dispute he kicked footballer in head, defence says

Atkinson’s partner at the time told the court the ex-footballer said in the hours before the fatal incident: ‘You’ll see when I am dead, I am the Messiah’ (Allsport/Getty)

A police officer accused of murdering Dalian Atkinson kicked the ex-Premier League footballer in the head while “terrified”, a court has heard.

The second day of the murder trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard police constable Benjamin Monk – who denies murdering Atkinson – claimed the former Aston Villa star threatened to take him “to the gates of hell”.

Atkinson, who also played for Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday, died in 2016 after going into cardiac arrest while being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

On Tuesday as the murder trial began, the prosecution told the court the ex-footballer had been tasered and kicked by an “angry” police officer in Telford, Shropshire, beforehand.

On Wednesday, the QC acting for PC Monk said the officer does not dispute kicking the ex-footballer twice in the head, saying that was “the only explanation for the marks on his forehead”.

Defence QC Patrick Gibbs said: “What is in dispute is why did he do that? He has always said he was terrified and that Mr Atkinson, after that third Taser [use] had been effective, initially at least, he was trying to get up.”

He urged jurors to keep an open mind until they had heard all the evidence against PC Monk.

The second day of the trial heard that PC Monk claimed Atkinson threatened to take him “to the gates of hell” while telling investigators he kicked the ex-Aston Villa star once to “control and restrain” him after he was tasered to the ground.

Jurors were told Monk, who denies murder and manslaughter, and fellow West Mercia Police constable Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who has pleaded not guilty to assault, were interviewed under caution on August 2016 and in January 2017.

On Wednesday, Atkinson’s partner at the time, Karen Wright, told the court the ex-footballer said in the hours before the fatal incident: “You’ll see when I am dead, I am the Messiah.”

She said this was the first time she had first him say this.

In previous weeks, Ms Wright told jurors, Atkinson “was quite convinced that he was going to be killed or he was going to be not be with us anymore”.

Asked if Mr Atkinson had suggested who was going to kill him, Ms Wright said: “He said the NHS or the police will kill me.”

She added he had also told her: “When I am dead, you will see the world is sock-shaped.”

The trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told post mortem examinations found Atkinson died of a cardiorespiratory arrest following the deployment of a Taser “followed by a brief period of restraint and blunt force trauma”.

Both officers maintain that they acted lawfully towards Atkinson, who was tasered for 33 seconds, kicked at least twice in the head and struck with a police baton.

On Tuesday, the court heard Atkinson – who had serious health problems including end-stage renal failure – moved towards the officers after they were called to a disturbance near his father’s house in Meadow Close, Telford, around about 1.30am on 15 August 2016.

Additional reporting by Press Association