A Metropolitan police officer who used pepper spray on a man as he climbed down a drainpipe attached to a high-rise apartment block has been convicted of assault, the force said.
PC Luke Wenham, 31, forced entry into the man’s flat on the 12th floor of Albert Barnes House in Southwark, south London, to arrest him on suspicion of robbery.
But when the man climbed out of the window and shimmied down a drainpipe, Wenham reached out and squirted him with the spray.
The man managed to reach the balcony of another flat on the seventh floor, where Wenham sprayed him again as he climbed over the railing and continued down the roughly 15-floor building, using the Pava incapacitant spray (a synthetic pepper spray) that he took from a colleague as his was empty.
Wenham, of the central south basic command unit, was found guilty of two counts of common assault at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday after the incident in August last year, after an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The IOPC director, Steve Noonan, said Wenham’s actions could have caused the man to fall to his death.
He said: “At the time he was sprayed, the man was not posing an immediate risk to the officers or anyone else.
“The national guidance on Pava spray lists some of the most common reactions on being exposed to it, including the individual moving their hands to their face, their legs becoming weak and temporary blindness.
“It is clear that in spraying the man twice at considerable heights, PC Wenham exposed him to the genuine risk he may have lost his grip on the pipe and fallen, which would have likely had fatal consequences.”
DCS Seb Adjei-Addoh, local policing commander in Southwark and Lambeth, added: “Officers know that their actions will be held to account and where any use of force is deployed, must always consider whether it was necessary and proportionate to the circumstances.
“It is clear in this case that not only was PC Wenham’s response completely disproportionate to the situation he faced but also, by doing what he did, he put a member of public at risk of harm.
“PC Wenham has let down not only himself but many hardworking police colleagues who strive to improve trust and confidence with our communities.
“I am pleased that this matter was put before a jury to make a decision following a careful consideration of all the facts.”
Wenham will be sentenced on Wednesday 26 July.
