Constable spared jail over attack on woman

There has been an outcry from senior female politicians after a police officer who attacked a woman as she walked home at night has been spared jail.

 

West Midlands Police constable Oliver Banfield admitted to a charge of assault in January against 36-year-old Emma Homer after grabbing her around the neck in July 2020. Ms Homer, who is a mother of two, said that being attacked by a police officer had shaken her beliefs "to the core".

 

The attack was caught on CCTV and took place in Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Ms Homer can be heard screaming "please" and "get off me" as Banfield, apparently drunk, attempts to push her to the ground. He repeatedly called Ms Homer a "slag", and appears to try to perform an "unlawful arrest".

 

Ms Homer reported the assault within hours of it happening, but said it took "more than 30 hours for an officer to take a telephone statement, nine days for an officer to come and see her and eight weeks for an officer to conduct house-to-house inquiries".

 

She further added that in September 2020 when the force presented a case file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), it was decided not to charge Banfield. Aided by the Women's Justice Centre, Ms Homer had the CPS's decision reviewed and in December 2020 Banfield was charged.

 

Ms Homer said in a statement: "I often ask myself if the impact of the attack would have been so severe if my assailant was not a police officer. To be verbally abused with misogynistic slang, grabbed by the neck and forced to the floor on a dark road by a drunk man, a foot taller than me, is terrifying. To then find out he was a police officer shook my belief system to its core."

 

At Leicester magistrates' court, Banfield's lawyer argued that he should not have to do community service because it would be "difficult" for him to work with criminals, he was sentenced with a curfew and ordered to pay compensation to his victim.

 

Labour MP Harriet Harman said that Banfield's punishment sentence for the "terrifying" ordeal he inflicted upon his victim was proof that the "system fails women and protects men".

 

Judge Nick Watson said Ms Homer was a "vulnerable woman walking home alone at night" and that Banfield "demonstrated his hostility to the victim based on her sex". The judge added that the officer had "abused his power", and described the misogynistic abuse as "an aggravating factor"

 

West Midlands Police is facing growing pressure to sack the 25-year-old officer after the force said he had only been suspended pending an internal misconduct investigation. Deputy Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine said in a statement: "Oliver Banfield was removed from public-facing police duties after the assault and while the investigation by Warwickshire Police was being carried out. To protect the criminal case, we've not been able to carry out our own misconduct investigation until its conclusion. Now sentencing has taken place, our investigation will be carried out and Pc Banfield faces allegations of gross misconduct and is currently suspended."

 

Further comment was made that, "We understand the strength of feeling surrounding the desperately sad death of Sarah Everard and concerns on the issue of women's safety but it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this stage. Our role is to protect the public, who should be able to trust us… we will take appropriate action against anyone whose actions fall below what is expected."

 

 

The Johnson Partnership

Nottingham Solicitors