PC Benjamin Monk to face misconduct hearing following Dalian Atkinson manslaughter conviction

The police officer jailed for the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson will face a misconduct hearing this Friday.

Disciplinary proceedings against PC Benjamin Monk follow his conviction last month for the killing of Mr Atkinson, a former Ason Villa striker, by tasering him to the ground and kicking him in the head outside his father’s house in Trench, Telford, in 2016.

A fast-track hearing to be held in Worcester is expected to result in the disgraced officer being barred from ever serving in the police again upon his release.

A notice published by West Mercia Police says: “The officer will answer allegations that his conduct amounted to a breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour, namely discreditable conduct.

“It is alleged that the officer’s actions were in breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour.

“If proved, it is contended that the officer’s actions singularly or in their totality amounted to gross misconduct.”

Monk was sentenced to eight years behind bars following a six-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, which saw him cleared of murder but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Jurors heard he tasered Mr Atkinson for an “excessive” 33 seconds and kicked him twice, leaving bootlace imprints on his forehead.

It later emerged that Monk had been found guilty of gross misconduct by West Mercia Police five years before he killed Mr Atkinson, but was allowed to keep his job.

The findings related to his failure to disclose two cautions on his application form when he joined the force in 2001.

Karen Wright, the girlfriend of Mr Atkinson, has this week called for Monk to lose his police pension following his conviction.

Home Office guidance says officers can be made to forfeit their pension if “convicted of an offence committed in connection with his or her service as a member of a police force, which is certified by the Home Secretary either to have been gravely injurious to the interests of the State, or to be liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in the public service”.

PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who was charged with assaulting Mr Atkinson on the night he died and was on trial alongside Monk, will face a retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict.