cop beat a former Premier League footballer with a baton as her police officer boyfriend tasered and kicked him to death, a court heard today.
PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, 32, is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the death of retired Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Manchester City striker Dalian Atkinson, 48, in August 2016.
His death came after he was tasered outside his dad's home in Telford for 33 seconds by PC Benjamin Monk, who then kicked him twice in the head, a court heard.Monk was jailed for eight years for manslaughter in June last year.
Today (September 13) Monk's former girlfriend Bettley-Smith appeared at Birmingham Crown Court.The court heard she acted unlawfully in striking Atkinson with the baton while he lay on the ground after being tasered - a charge she denies.Bettley-Smith, of West Mercia Police, claims she used reasonable force and acted in self-defence because she thought her life was in danger.
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