Police officer cleared of assaulting ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson

A police officer has been cleared of assaulting the former footballer Dalian Atkinson during an incident in which he was killed after being Tasered and hit multiple times.

During the trial at Birmingham crown court, jurors were told Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, 32, struck Atkinson with her baton three times as he lay on the ground, after being Tasered for 33 seconds by her colleague and then partner, PC Benjamin Monk.

Monk was found guilty of manslaughter at a previous trial in June 2021, during which Bettley-Smith was also on trial for assault, but jurors failed to deliver a verdict on her charge.

Following a retrial, jurors delivered a verdict of not guilty on Wednesday.

The court heard how Atkinson, who played for Aston Villa, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday during his professional career, was suffering from a number of serious health issues at the time of his death, including end-stage kidney failure.

In the early hours of 15 August 2016, he drove to his family home in Telford, Shropshire, where he kicked the front door and shouted, waking neighbours who called the police, the jury heard.

Paul Jarvis, the prosecutor, said Atkinson’s “mind was disturbed” and he “was not acting like himself”, most likely due to a buildup of toxins linked to renal failure, the court heard.

Jarvis said that when Monk and Bettley-Smith arrived on the scene, Atkinson smashed a window at the house and walked towards the officers, saying repeatedly he was “the Messiah”.

Monk Tasered Atkinson and kicked him in the head as he lay on the ground, while shouting “fucking hit him!” to Bettley-Smith.

“It is likely that Bettley-Smith lashed out, perhaps in anger at the fact Atkinson had scared her so much, or perhaps because Monk told her to because he