Attack claim prisoner admits numerous complaints against police

A prisoner who alleges he was attacked by a police officer in a Bradford custody suite has admitted in court he made more than 29 unsubstantiated complaints against the police in two and a half years.

Hasan Mumtaz, who has a number of convictions for violence, was giving evidence in the trial of Pc Glynn Dutton at Sheffield Magistrates Court.

Dutton, 36, is accused of assaulting Mumtaz in a holding area at Trafalgar House police station in Bradford in June last year.

Magistrates were shown CCTV footage of the incident, which appears to show the officer shove Mumtaz down on to a bench and then struggle with him before a number of other officers arrive to help him.

Giving evidence from the dock, as the police officer sat behind his lawyer, Mumtaz said he was attacked for no reason.

The court heard Mumtaz was arrested on an outstanding warrant at Bradford Crown Court on June 18 last year before he was transported to the police station and left alone for a short time in the holding area with Dutton.

Mumtaz told the court the officer told him "Oi, sit down" and said: "You do what I tell you to do."

He said Dutton said it in a "proper bullying" way Mumtaz told the magistrates: "I said 'I'm not a dog'." Then, he said, the officer attacked him. But Adrian Keeling, defending, asked Mumtaz about a series of convictions he has for violence and drug dealing.

He also asked him why he had made 29 unsubstantiated complaints about the police in a two-and-half-year period from June 2007, which he said was more than one a month. Mumtaz said: "There's even more than that."

Dutton, of Bridon Way, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, denies one count of common assault. The trial is expected to finish on Thursday.