Questions have been raised about how safe you really are at work, after a man assaulted a local shop worker and an on-duty police officer earlier this month.
Adam Bennett of Adelaide Court in Bedworth was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay a victims’ surcharge of £154 this month after assaulting two people whilst they carried out their everyday jobs.
The incidents occurred when the shop worker suspected 45-year-old Bennett of stealing items. When the worker tried to prevent him from stealing, they had a bottle of shower gel thrown at their head. The worker was also grabbed by the shirt and threatened.
Bennett then entered a nearby pharmacist, where an attending PCSO attempted to detain him until other police officers arrived. The PCSO was then assaulted by Bennett who slapped her hand, threw an empty medicine bottle at her, and threatened to punch her in the face, before leaving and entering a nearby clothes shop.
On his exit from the clothes shop, Bennett made more threatening gestures towards the PCSO and said “I’ll tell you what I will do to you”, before being quickly tackled to the floor by a Police Constable and arrested for assault.
After proceeding to shout “F**K YOU” and “C**TS” repeatedly while on the floor, Bennett was also arrested for violating Section 5 of the Public Order Act. The incident was caught on body-worn video and nearby CCTV cameras.
Adam Bennett was found guilty of one count of assaulting a police officer, one count of assault by beating, and one count of using threatening language, abusive words, and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
Earlier this year retail bosses, including Tesco, announced they were introducing extra protection for staff after an increase in assaults on the shop floor, including the option to wear body cameras at work.
Meanwhile, retailers are urging action from Home Secretary Suella Braverman over rising levels of retail crime as recent survey found incidents of violence and abuse towards retail staff had nearly doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents per day in 2021/22.
Chief Constable Debbie Tedds said:
“It is always distressing to hear of one of our officers being assaulted while trying to protect the public.
“A member of the public had been assaulted after trying to defend his place of work, which was unacceptable and necessitated a robust police response.
“It’s at times like this we are particularly thankful for body-worn video, which allow us to very quickly resolve all incidents of violence against our officers with sufficient evidence in court.
“I’d like to say thanks to the officers involved in this arrest for their professionalism and experience in dealing with Mr. Bennett.”
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Criminal injury (CICA) claims – Oakwood Solicitors
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Rebecca Gaughan first joined Oakwood Solicitors in 2017 as an Apprentice in the New Enquiries team.
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