PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith was found not guilty of assaulting former Town striker Dalian Atkinson by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court earlier this afternoon.
Bettley-Smith had been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident in the early hours of Monday 15th August 2016 outside Atkinson’s father Ernest’s house in the Trench area of Telford in which the one-time Blues frontman died, aged 48.
It had been alleged that Bettley-Smith used unreasonable force when striking Atkinson with a baton three times after another officer, PC Benjamin Monk, who was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for eight years in July 2021, had repeatedly Tasered him.
Atkinson went into cardiorespiratory arrest and, having been taken to hospital by ambulance, died about an hour later.
Jurors found Bettley-Smith not guilty having deliberated for three hours and two minutes at the retrial, the jury at the original trial having been unable to reach a verdict regarding the 32-year-old.
It was alleged by prosecutors that Bettley-Smith had lost her cool after she and Monk, who at the time were in a relationship, had been sent to restrain Atkinson, who had been in a disturbed mental state understood to be due to a build up of toxins caused by kidney problems, and caused actual bodily harm, but which it was accepted did not contribute towards his death.
Bettley-Smith claimed she had used the baton lawfully as she saw Atkinson as continuing to pose a threat despite being on the ground having been Tasered three times and kicked in the head at least twice by Monk.
The probationary officer, who said it was the only occasion on which she had used her baton in her six months with the West Mercia force, told the court: "I thought he was trying to get up to fight. In my opinion he was trying to get up on to his hands and knees.
"I was terrified of Mr Atkinson getting up. I was terrified to even get close to him because I thought I would come to serious harm if he was to get up.
"If I could have done anything to not use my baton that night, then I would have. There was no anger or losing my cool.”
Bettley-Smith said that on hearing of Atkinson’s death that she had felt overwhelmed and her feelings have remained the same during the six years which have passed: "I live it every day.”
Shrewsbury-born Atkinson joined Town as a youth player having been scouted by legendary Blues talent spotter Ron Gray during Bobby Ferguson’s time as boss.
The frontman made his senior debut in March 1986 and went on to make 56 starts and 13 sub appearances scoring 21 goals before moving to Sheffield Wednesday for £450,000 in July 1989. Aston Villa, Real Sociedad and Fenerbahçe were among his other clubs.