2010-07-31

BBC News - Wigan police officers cleared of soldier attack

30 July 2010 Last updated at 13:34 ET

Wigan police officers cleared of soldier attack

Two police officers have been cleared of assaulting a former soldier outside a bar in Wigan.

Sgt Stephen Russell and Pc Richard Kelsall, of Greater Manchester Police, were accused of attacking L/Cpl Mark Aspinall in July 2008.

A jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court is still considering its verdict on a third man, special constable Peter Lightfoot.

Lightfoot has been found guilty of one count of perjury.

Members of the jury were sent home for the weekend and on Monday will resume deliberations on the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

All three officers, who are employed by Greater Manchester Police (GMP), had denied the charge.

The men were charged with the attack in July 2009 following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

It followed the emergence of CCTV footage of the arrest of the soldier, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Wigan town centre on 27 July 2008.

via bbc.co.uk

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