Policeman bailed pending assault appeal

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 jailed for hurling a woman head first on to a concrete cell floor, leaving her with blood pouring from a head wound, was today freed on bail pending an appeal. Sergeant Mark Andrews, of Wiltshire police, was last week sentenced for six months after being convicted of assaulting Pamela Somerville. But during a hearing behind closed doors at Oxford crown court, Judge Julian Hall granted Andrews bail ahead of the appeal against the conviction and sentence. Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging Somerville, then 57, across the floor of Melksham police station in Wiltshire before shoving her into the cell. She needed stitches to a head wound and said that as she was driven to hospital by ambulance she feared she was going to die. Somerville had been arrested after spending the night in her car near her Wiltshire home following a minor row with her partner. The market researcher claims she was arrested, taken to Melksham police station and put in a cell without ever being told what she was suspected of. After slipping out of her cell, she was seized by Andrews, 37. The CCTV footage shows him dragging Somerville across the lobby and hurling her back into the cell. She smashes her head and blood is seen spattered across the hard floor. As she was driven to the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Andrews claimed blood began to spurt from her mouth. She still fears she could lose the sight of her left eye. A colleague of Andrews, a former soldier, reported the incident and he was found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm. Somerville was not charged with any offence. Sentencing Andrews last week, deputy district judge Peter Greenfield said he had abused his position of trust and only a custodial sentence was appropriate.