Sergeantfacing sackfor attack oncell woman

Sgt Mark Andrews is shown dragging Pamela Somerville, 59, across the floor of the police station in Wiltshire before shoving her into a cell.

CCTV footage captured her lying on the floor for a minute before struggling to get up with blood pouring from a head wound.

Former soldier Sgt Andrews, 37, was eventually convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm after a trial at Oxford Magistrates Court earlier this summer. He will be sentenced on Tuesday and is expected to lose his job.

The case was brought after another officer at Melksham station reported his behaviour to a supervisor.

It happened in July 2008, when Ms Somerville was arrested after being found asleep in her car. She was detained for failing to provide a sample for a breath test.

Then aged 57, she was thrown in the cell at Melksham police station after being grabbed in the station lobby by custody sergeant Andrews.

CCTV footage shows Andrews coming back into the cell after she gets to her feet and calls for help before another person comes to check her and paramedics are called.

She was taken to Royal United Hospital in Bath and needed stitches in a gash above her eye.

Ms Somerville told a national newspaper: “It seems utterly barbaric that an innocent person can be treated in such a horrific and violent way and then left alone.”