Civilian police worker who threw scalding water over prisoner is jailed
Adrian Law found guilty of injuring Abdul Alfadley's lower body and genitals by flinging liquid through door hatch
- guardian.co.uk,
- Article history
A civilian police worker has been jailed for three years for throwing scalding water over a prisoner in a police station cell.
Adrian Law, 45, was accused of "gross abuse and wickedness" by a judge and condemned by senior police for letting down his force and colleagues.
He was taken from the dock at Leeds crown court by security officers, a job he did himself before transferring to work as a detention officer at Barnsley police station in South Yorkshire.
He had denied causing grievous bodily harm to Abdul Aziz Alfadley, 26, but, after deliberating for nine hours, a jury found him guilty. He was cleared of an additional, more serious charge of GBH with intent.
The court heard that Alfadley suffered serious injuries to his lower body and genitals after Law showered him with a cupful of water taken from a boiler. Tests later suggested its temperature was 94.7C.
Alfadley had been "agitated and disruptive" after being arrested in Barnsley centre for a public order offence, and had persisted in shouting and banging on his door. Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Law flinging the water through the cell's door hatch.
In spite of this, he denied the charge and claimed he was trying to pass a cup of cold water to the prisoner. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Spenser told Law he had acted cynically and brought South Yorkshire police service into disrepute.
Accepting that Alfasley had been a very disruptive prisoner, and that a detention officer's job was challenging, the judge said: "None of that is any excuse for what you did. The public has to trust police officers and detention officers at a police station to treat detainees fairly and humanely. It is the mark of a civilised society."
Relatives of Law, who lived at Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, were in tears as he was taken from court. A former miner, he worked for Group 4 as a prison escort before the move to Barnsley police station. He had an exemplary discipline record and no previous convictions.
South Yorkshire's deputy chief constable, Bob Dyson, said: "The actions of Adrian Law on that day fell far below the standards that we expect. He let down the public and let down his colleagues. On behalf of the force, I apologise to Mr Abdul Alfadley for the injuries he received."
Nicholas Long, a member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said Law's actions had been compounded by an experienced custody sergeant whose only action after the assault was to turn off the water supply. The sergeant has been given a written warning after an internal misconduct hearing.
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