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A policeman will be charged with assaulting a woman during the G20 protests, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed today.
The CPS said there was “sufficient evidence” to charge Sergeant Delroy Smellie following an investigation into the claims by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Sgt Smellie, an officer with the Met's Territorial Support Group, will appear before Westminster magistrates in November.
Nicola Fisher, 35, said the officer hit her across the face with the back of his hand outside the Bank of England. He was then filmed drawing his metal baton and hitting her legs. Photos showed bruising on her left thigh and another bruise on her calf.
Miss Fisher, from Brighton, was attending a vigil for Ian Tomlinson, who died at the protests the day before only minutes after being struck and pushed over by another officer.
She is one of two women to complain about the conduct of Sgt Smellie, who was suspended while the IPCC conducted an investigation.
She described the incident, near the protesters' “climate camp” in Bishopsgate, as totally unprovoked.
But prosecutors say there is insufficient evidence to charge the officer in relation to her complaint.
Miss Fisher subsequently sold her story to a newspaper for £50,000 and at the time of the incident she said: “It wasn't a tap, he used his full force. It was very violent and aggressive and unnecessary.”
She added: “There were a lot of men around me but I was singled out for this awful treatment.
The development comes after prosecutors have been asked to consider whether the TSG officer who attacked Mr Tomlinson at the G20 demonstration should be charged with manslaughter.
The IPCC last month announced that it had completed its criminal inquiry and handed a file to the CPS, which will now evaluate whether there is enough evidence to bring charges and whether a trial would be in the public interest. The focus of the IPCC inquiry was on footage showing a TSG officer striking Mr Tomlinson with a baton and shoving him to the ground near the Bank of England on 1 April. Moments later he collapsed and died of internal bleeding.
The policing of the protests at the G20 summit aroused major criticism of the tactics used — particularly “kettling”, a technique used to hold protesters against their will.
