Met officer avoids jail after spraying a man climbing down a drainpipe
A Met officer has been spared a jail sentence after he was convicted of assaulting a man escaping from a flat down a drainpipe.
PC Luke Wenham, attached to the Central South Basic Command Unit, was found guilty of common assault after he used PAVA spray, similar to pepper spray, on the man as he climbed down a drainpipe on a high-rise block of flats in Southwark on August 17.
PC Wenham appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday, where he was given a 12-month community order.
He was also sentenced to 15 days’ rehabilitation as directed by probation, a curfew for three months and 100 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay costs of £625 and a victim surcharge of £114.
PC Wenham was one of a team of officers who attended an address in Albert Barnes House, New Kent Road, to carry out an arrest inquiry for a man wanted on suspicion of robbery.
The officers forced entry to the flat and the man escaped out of a window. He began to scale down a drainpipe which ran the length of the block of flats. As he did so, PC Wenham leant out of an open window and sprayed PAVA spray at the man – who continued to climb down the pipe.
When officers found the man, on the balcony of another flat, the man continued his attempts to escape, climbing down the outside of the building as before. Again, PC Wenham sprayed him.
When the man was brought to safety he was arrested and later convicted of 11 counts of robbery and two counts of racially aggravated public order.
On February 9, PC Wenham was charged with two counts of common assault. The officer has been suspended.
Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh, local policing commander in Southwark and Lambeth, said: “Officers know that their actions will be held to account and where any use of force is deployed, must always consider whether it was necessary and proportionate to the circumstances.
“It is clear in this case that not only was PC Wenham’s response completely disproportionate to the situation he faced, but also, by doing what he did, he put a member of the public at risk of harm.”
(Picture: The Met)