An police officer who grabbed an innocent teenager by the throat has been convicted of assault
Thirty three year old PC Benjamin Heppenstall who is based at Wigan district, was today convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm of a 16-year-old boy while on duty in January 2021.
Over the five-day hearing, the jury at Bolton Crown Court was played video footage taken from PC Heppenstall’s body-worn camera which showed the entirety of the assault.
The officer had responded to an incident at a care home for young people in Wigan where threats had been allegedly made to two women who worked there.
After arresting two suspects, and with the two workers physically unharmed and present in the room, PC Heppenstall told a 16-year-old boy, who was sat near the suspects on a sofa, to get out of the room and “go to bed.”
The boy refused, and PC Heppenstall proceeded to initially try and pull the boy up from the sofa by his arm, before then putting his hand forcefully around the boy’s neck and being verbally abusive.
Such was PC Heppenstall’s grip on the victim, he tore the boy’s t-shirt and pulled it off him before then forcefully grabbing his neck a second time, which resulted in the boy being injured and one of the workers, who was one of the initial victims, trying to intervene and pull PC Heppenstall away.
GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate received a formal complaint about the incident and investigators worked to secure evidence, including PC Heppenstall’s body-worn footage and witness statements, to build a case for assault.
The force restricted PC Heppenstall’s duties in January 2021. Following today’s verdict, he faces being suspended from the force and we are now preparing misconduct proceedings. He will be sentenced on 27 November 2024.
