Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Newham PC jailed for GBH. Judge said it was a 'clear case of racial profiling'

David Clapson

Well-Known Member
That's twice I've clicked to that link without realizing it's the Mail :mad:

Mind you if they get more clicks to that sort of story they might run more of them : pointlessly hopeful:
 
That's twice I've clicked to that link without realizing it's the Mail :mad:

Mind you if they get more clicks to that sort of story they might run more of them : pointlessly hopeful:

Indeed. Also some of the comments are bizarrely reassuring. I think I need to go back to bed, this is all very odd.
 
Here it is anyway... But I dunno, kind of think it's acceptable to give them a click if they're going to publish this.

Jailing Harrison, 39, for two years and three months yesterday, judge Gregory Perrins said: 'This was a clear case of racial profiling. I am satisfied that had they have been white you would have driven by without disturbing them.'

Mr Abrahams, 47, was heading out of the cemetery with his children, aged 13 and 16, after placing flowers on the grave of his former partner in the early afternoon on New Year's Eve 2018.

Harrison pulled over in an unmarked patrol car, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

The plain clothes officer, attached to Scotland Yard's Violent Crime Task Force, approached the family and used a 'leg sweep' to knock Mr Abrahams to the ground.

The court heard Harrison made no effort to identify himself as a police officer and threatened a passerby with arrest if they did not 'move along.'

The father, in his 40s, said his teenage boys remain scared of police and fear they will be targeted because of the colour of their skin.

Jailing Harrison, 39, for two years and three months yesterday, judge Gregory Perrins said: 'This was a clear case of racial profiling. I am satisfied that had they have been white you would have driven by without disturbing them.'

Mr Abrahams, 47, was heading out of the cemetery with his children, aged 13 and 16, after placing flowers on the grave of his former partner in the early afternoon on New Year's Eve 2018.

Harrison pulled over in an unmarked patrol car, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

The plain clothes officer, attached to Scotland Yard's Violent Crime Task Force, approached the family and used a 'leg sweep' to knock Mr Abrahams to the ground.

The court heard Harrison made no effort to identify himself as a police officer and threatened a passerby with arrest if they did not 'move along.'


Harrison and his colleagues had been searching for black suspects wanted for violent crimes in the area.

He later told police he approached the Abrahams family because 'you don't find drugs or weapons by remaining in your car', the court heard.

But Harrison had no grounds to arrest Mr Abrahams and his sons nor did he have a reason to stop and search the family, judge Perrins said.

'They had done nothing wrong, they were simply a family on their way back from a graveyard,' he told the court. Mr Abrahams spent New Year's Eve in hospital with a fracture to the knee, which was placed in a cast, and had to use crutches to walk for three months.

He can no longer play any sport, and requires regular physiotherapy three years after the attack in Forest Gate, east London.

Judge Perrins said: 'He is still in pain today, can no longer play football and needs regular physiotherapy. He has had to give up sport as a result of the fracture.

'Even three years later his sons remain in fear of the police and worry they will be targeted because of the colour of their skin. Mr Abrahams believes the reason he was assaulted was (that) he was black.'

The judge told Harrison: 'Your actions severely undermine the trust placed in the police.'

Harrison had been convicted of grievous bodily harm following a majority verdict last month. Mr Abrahams reported the attack to the Independent Office of Police Conduct in January 2019 and the watchdog decided Scotland Yard should investigate the incident.

Harrison was charged with GBH in August 2019.

Commander Paul Betts said: 'This matter was subject to a thorough investigation by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards and PC Harrison was charged and later convicted by a jury.

'His actions were found to have fallen well below the standard we expect of our police officers, with a man left badly injured. This type of behaviour has no place in our police service and undermines the confidence of the communities we are here to protect.'

Harrison has been suspended from duty and will be subject to police disciplinary proceedings, Commander Betts added.
 
As usual with these things it's very hard to know what's going on behind the scenes... Plea bargains etc, overworked, underfunded prosecutors. To actually get a custodial sentence is something. I mean they rarely seem to manage that with full on murder.
Don't people usually plea down? And there's no mention of a guilty plea which I'm told is usually part of the deal
 
There are categories of GBH that a defence could work with. But yeah, there isn't really much information here.
I don't think yer man left his lawyer too much to work with with an unprovoked attack on a man in front of his family for no other reason than the colour of his skin, I'd have thought in such circumstances being a police officer would be an aggravating factor rather than mitigating. So 2 years 3 months seems to me a very light sentence. I'd have thought 3-5. But there you go
 
I don't think yer man left his lawyer too much to work with with an unprovoked attack on a man in front of his family for no other reason than the colour of his skin, I'd have thought in such circumstances being a police officer would be an aggravating factor rather than mitigating. So 2 years 3 months seems to me a very light sentence. I'd have thought 3-5. But there you go

That’s usually the case on the rare occasions the police end up in court.
 
I don't think yer man left his lawyer too much to work with with an unprovoked attack on a man in front of his family for no other reason than the colour of his skin, I'd have thought in such circumstances being a police officer would be an aggravating factor rather than mitigating

We don’t know what the charges were beyond ‘gbh’, without knowing that it’s basically impossible to say whether the sentence was appropriate (within the confines of the law, it’s obviously not in a wider sense). The prosecution lawyer still has to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt, so a good defence lawyer might argue for dropping the GBH with intent element or something. That will constrain sentencing.
 
To... <hesitates>

To er... fuck. Ahem. To give the mail credit they do seem to be the only major paper covering it.
When I started the thread it was a new story. The Mail is often the first to cover something, especially if it breaks late in the day. That's because they make a huge profit and have a huge staff which churns out stories at all hours, catering for readers worldwide. To avoid reading the Mail you can sometimes just wait a few hours until the other papers pick up the story. Which they now have.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cid
Back
Top Bottom