Police officer begins appeal against conviction for assaulting woman

The following update was added on Thursday 18 November 2010 Mark Andrews appealed against his conviction for causing actual bodily harm. In November 2010 he won his appeal. The appeal judge said he was satisfied that Sgt Andrews did not intend to throw Ms Somerville into the cell and that injuries she suffered "were probably caused by her falling to the floor after letting go of the door frame. A police officer found guilty of hurling a woman head-first on to a concrete cell floor, leaving her with blood pouring from a head wound, began an appeal today against his conviction and sentence. Sergeant Mark Andrews, of Wiltshire police, claims Pamela Somerville accidentally fell as he tried to get her back into the cell, at Melksham police station. Andrews, 37, was jailed for six months in September for assaulting Somerville. The crown claims he threw her into the cell after becoming "exasperated" at her "mouthing off". Andrews, a former soldier, says Somerville fell back as he tried to get her back into the cell after she slipped out past a female officer and a doctor. His team will argue he used legal holds to control her. Sitting with two magistrates at Oxford, Mr Justice Bean watched CCTV footage of the violent episode, extracts from which caused a public outcry when they appeared in the media. The court heard that Somerville, who was 57 at the time of the incident in July 2008, had been found asleep in the morning in a Mercedes car parked in a passing place on a quiet country lane. She was suspected of drink-driving and taken to the police station in handcuffs. CCTV footage captures her sobbing as she is made to stand in front of Andrews, the custody sergeant. He tells her to shut up and listen. "You are in my custody now," he says. When she asks him if she has rights, he answers: "Not at the moment." Somerville shrugs off a police officer holding her, and Andrews seizes her and takes her to a cell. Later, she is taken to another room for a breath test. Somerville is heard swearing at an officer and again Andrews intervenes. She slips to the floor on her bottom and he drags her back towards her cell as she screams: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry ... please ... I'll do whatever you want." An hour later, Somerville is seen slipping out of her cell as a female police officer and doctor visit her. Once more, Andrews steps in. The CCTV footage shows Somerville falling back into the cell. For 30 seconds she remains motionless, face down. She gets up and can be heard calling out: "Please ... I'm bleeding" as blood spatters across the floor. Somerville suffered a cut above her left eye and bruising around both eyes. Ian Hope, for the crown, said Somerville had been "picked up and thrown into the cell" by Andrews. When he was interviewed, Andrews claimed she had fallen to the floor as she struggled. Andrews also said she had continued to swear but seemed "fine" when he left her. Hope said this was a "lie": the CCTV footage showed she had not said anything and had not moved. Hope said the crown accepted that Andrews's role was demanding, and that it needed a "commanding and authoritative" figure. But he said Andrews had not conducted himself with "dignity or professionalism", and had been "bullying and intimidating". The barrister accepted that Somerville's behaviour may have "tried the patience of a saint", but this did not justify Andrews' use of "brute force" just because he was "exasperated" at her "mouthing off". Mr Justice Bean expressed surprise that Andrews had not been interviewed until a year after the incident. He was told this was because a case against Somerville had been going through the courts, though she had not been convicted of anything in relation to the episode. The judge said it seemed "illogical" that there had been such a delay before Andrews was questioned. Andrews was suspended after his conviction. He was given bail after launching an appeal. The case continues.