A judge has condemned an apparent police assault on a soldier
who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall, 24, was thrown to the ground
by three uniformed officers after a night out with friends and
punched eight times.
The violent arrest - caught on CCTV - shocked a crown court
judge, who called it appalling.
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But astonishingly Lance Corporal Aspinall was himself hauled
before the courts and convicted of assaulting the police.
He was sentenced to 200 hours community service and even ordered
to pay compensation to the officers.
His ordeal ended only when Judge John Phipps watched the damning
CCTV footage and quashed the verdict on appeal.
Judge Phipps said: 'I am shocked and appalled at the level
of police violence shown here.'
Last night, Mr Aspinall - who served for seven years in the
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers - said: 'I was scared
for mylife. I remember thinking, 'I'm going to die here. I can't
believe I've survived Afghanistan and Iraq and and now I'm going
to die on this main road in my home town at the hands of the
police'.
'Yet I was the one who ended up in the dock, not the officers.'
