Former PC who beheaded the prisoner guilty of misconduct

A former West Yorkshire police officer who headbutted a handcuffed prisoner twice in retaliation has been found guilty of gross misconduct.

Scott Walton attacked the male suspect after he was repeatedly verbally abused and head-butted while arresting the man in Leeds on February 18, 2023.

Mr Walton resigned from the force in October after pleading guilty to an assault charge.

A misconduct panel ruled on Friday that he would have been dismissed over the incident in any event, following a vetted hearing at West Yorkshire Police’s headquarters in Wakefield.

Presenting the case to the police authority, Mike Percival said Mr Walton had visited a property in a tower block on Wellington Street with a colleague following reports of a domestic incident.

He said a man was arrested at the address and handcuffed behind the back before being led back to a police van.

The suspect was said to have become verbally abusive and headbutted Mr Walton as he sat in the back of the van, at which point the officer “lost his temper” and responded by headbutting him “in the face and head” twice.

Proceedings heard his colleague had to chase Mr Walton and him from returning the van as he shouted “foul Anglo-Saxon” in the direction of the suspect.

Mr Percival said the officer then returned to the police station where he immediately told his supervisor about the incident and was later arrested.

In interviews, he initially claimed his behavior was “necessary and proportionate” to prevent an attack on him and his colleague.

But he was said not to have repeated that defense when he appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court charged with assault in August 2023.

He pleaded guilty and was later given a 12-month community order and fined £600.

The panel was told that Mr Walton had been an officer for three years and concerns had previously been raised about his “behavior and behaviour” with difficult suspects, although on one occasion he was praised for handling a similar situation.

The hearing was not told whether the prisoner had sustained any injuries himself.

Closing the case, commission chairman Stephen Gowland said the matter was so serious that dismissal from the force alone would have been “sufficient” punishment for the officer.