Policeman who electrocuted former soccer player Daniel Atkinson and kicked him in the head twice has been acquitted; He was charged with premeditated murder, but was convicted of manslaughter.
BA Media reported that jurors at Birmingham Royal Court took 18 hours and 48 minutes to reach a unanimous verdict that Officer Benjamin Monk, who claimed his life was in danger due to the former Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town striker, on August 15. /August 2016.
The charge of assaulting Mary Ellen Batley-Smith, Monk’s ex-girlfriend and co-worker, is still in court.
Monk told the court he ran out of fear after Atkinson – who appeared to be in a state of mental health crisis – made death threats and smashed the windows of his home in Meadow Close, Telford, in Shropshire.
Monk,