British Transport Police officer sacked for excessive use of force following IPCC investigation

15 Jun 2017 03:00 PM

The IPCC yesterday published a report from an investigation which resulted in the dismissal of a British Transport Police officer last month for excessive and unprovoked use of force.

PC Kerry Reynolds was found by a misconduct panel to have used excessive force without provocation by punching the man twice and striking him five times with his knee during an incident at Kings Cross station in February2016. The panel also found that these blows were without rationale or justification.

PC Reynolds was also found to have used inappropriate and offensive language during the incident, on 18 Feb 2016, as well as having discussed key elements of the IPCC investigation with witnesses and police investigators in breach of police policies.

The IPCC investigator’s opinion was that PC Reynolds had a case to answer for gross misconduct and at a disciplinary hearing on 12 May he was dismissed from the force without notice.

An IPCC spokesperson said:

“This was a clear case of excessive and unnecessary force from PC Reynolds .His actions were compounded by his use of offensive language and his actions undermined public confidence in policing.

“Following our investigation, British Transport Police agreed PC Reynolds should face a disciplinary hearing where the case was proven.”

A further IPCC investigation into the conduct of two other officers in relation to accessing information about the incident on BTP computer systems found that PC Mayaski and PS Morrison also had a case to answer for misconduct. This was not upheld at a subsequent misconduct meeting.

The two investigation reports, published yesterday, can be found here.