麻豆社

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been found guilty of assaulting a man he believed was the perpetrator of a crime rather than the victim.

PC Jonathan Marsh, 33, went to a report of a man making threats to kill and damaging a shop in Atlanta Boulevard, Romford, east London, in November 2022.

He mistook Rasike Attanayake, who had called 999, for the suspect, arrested him and punched him in the head.

At City of London Magistrates' Court, Marsh had denied assault by beating.

Mr Attanayake was arrested and later de-arrested at the scene.

Speaking outside court following the conviction, Mr Attanayake said he had been in pain during the incident and had believed he was being suffocated. He said what had happened demonstrated a need for policing tactics around stop-and-search to be reassessed.

He's been speaking to 麻豆社 Radio London's Shay Kaur Grewal.