Police officer who assaulted men sacked ‘for denting public’s trust’

PC Andrew Leggott, a police officer of nine years standing, was dismissed by Humberside Police’s Chief Constable Justine Curran at the first misconduct hearing held in public, since a change in the rules.

PC Leggott, 32, assaulted two men when he was among officers called to a disturbance in Scunthorpe. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to assaulting Nathan Fox and was also found guilty following a trial at York Magistrates of assaulting another man, Glenn Brennan. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge for the assaults.

Ms Curran accepted that the PC faced a challenging situation where officers were outnumbered, but said his treatment of Mr Fox, which was witnessed by members of the public, had “lacked legitimacy and exploited your position of power”, contributing to unrest that then developed.

“I find this failure so significant and damaging to the trust we as a service need, I cannot mitigate it,” she said.

The hearing was told PC Leggott slapped Mr Fox across the face when he put him in the back of a police van. Residents took exception, among them Mr Brennan, who was swearing at the police officer. The hearing was told PC Leggott grabbed hold of Mr Fox, who took him to the ground with a “leg swipe” and then punched him in the face causing his mouth to bleed.

PC Leggott, who is appealing his conviction over Mr Brennan, admitted three of four allegations. However his representative Ian Townsend said there was insufficient evidence relating to the Brennan charge, and argued that the misconduct hearing was the wrong venue to hear evidence that had not been properly tested. He said PC Leggott had experienced “a momentary loss of control” in “cuffing” Mr Fox but the officer believed that the level of force used against Mr Brennan - seen obstructing officers 15 times - was reasonable. It was a “blip on an otherwise perfect career.” Mr Thompson said: “The males didn’t suffer significant injuries - but the repercussions of his actions are likely to be more disproportionately serious to him”.