Pc who punched shopkeeper in mistaken identity does not regret actions, court hears

A police officer who punched an innocent medical worker in the back of the head after he was wrongly identified as a suspect said he did not regret his actions, a court heard.

Police body-worn footage showed Pc Jonathan Marsh, 34, attacking Rasike Attanayake minutes after he had called up to report a crime, handcuffing him, telling him to “get on the f------” floor and forcing him on the ground before punching him in the back of the head on Nov 13 2022.

Marsh, of Canvey Island, Essex, denied but was convicted of assault by beating after a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He was sentenced to two weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months.

The judge said Marsh’s behaviour was “disgraceful and unwarranted”.

During the trial, the court heard Marsh and Pc Simran Bogle had been sent to an area of Romford following reports a drunken man had smashed a notice board outside Mr Attanayake’s audiology practice, HearHear, on the day of the incident.

The man went to the nearby Lidl where he was throwing trolleys through the window and making death threats, but Mr Attanayake was wrongly identified as the suspect by a CCTV operator.

Giving evidence, Marsh, a former prison officer at HMP Chelmsford, claimed the force he used was proportionate and necessary.

He said: “I placed my right leg in front of his left leg and took him to the floor, using my leg as a mechanism to roll him over. I have used my knee to pin his left shoulder down.”

He was asked if his actions were unnecessary by his barrister, Ben Summers.

Marsh replied: “I disagree, I believe it was necessary. I say it was proportionate, it was one blow.”

Marsh said he did not regret any of his actions, including when he told Mr Attanayake to “get on the f------g floor” and to “do as you’re f------g told”.

“I don’t regret doing it,” he added.

“I understand the language isn’t nice but that man needs arresting.”

‘It scares me and upsets me’

In his victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Attanayake said: “I don’t think there’s anything I could have done that day to change what happened.

“I felt powerless and that it was a hopeless situation.

“I don’t like police officers walking past me, sometimes it scares me and upsets me.

“When I see them out and about in uniform on the street it gives me the shivers.”

During sentencing, District Judge Annabel Pilling told Marsh: “There is no dispute that the CCTV operator gave you incorrect information that Mr Attanayake was in fact the suspect.

“Mr Attanayake had no issue with you acting on that information.

“He knew that he was not the suspect and that his telephone would reveal the two calls he’d made.”

The judge said Marsh’s behaviour was “disgraceful and unwarranted”.

“This was not one of those high-adrenalin, potentially violent situations where a police officer might have been excused or understood as to why violence had to be used,” the judge said.

“Mr Attanayake was compliant. He was not thrashing his leg around, or jerking body around, not swearing, not trying to get away from you.

“The footage shows him lying on the ground, his hands behind his back, with you leaning on top of him, when you struck him with an unwarranted punch to the back of the head.

“You suggested that this was some sort of Home Office-approved technique. This was an unnecessary and dangerous thing to do.”

Marsh was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay Mr Attanayake £1,500 in compensation.