A jury is considering verdicts in the trial of a police officer accused of twice assaulting a handcuffed suspect who had spat in his face.
Pc Paul McVeigh, 48, denies intentionally yanking Jack Moore out of the back of a police van onto the ground and then deliberately throwing him head first onto the cell floor, causing him to land on his chin.
CCTV pictures of both incidents were shown to the jury at Teesside Crown Court, as well as body-worn camera footage of an earlier incident where Mr Moore spat in the officer’s face, after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in January 2017.
Paul McVeigh is on trial at Teesside Crown Court (Owen Humphreys/PA)
The officer, who has served with Northumbria Police for 25 years, denied a “red mist” had descended and Kevin Baumber, defending, said the father-of-two had not lashed out, kicked or punched the abusive suspect at Southwick Police Station, Sunderland.
Mr Moore, who required 15 stitches, later admitted assault and being drunk and disorderly.