A police officer and power-lifting champion has been dismissed after using “extreme” force against two detainees, including a traumatised woman.
Hampshire constabulary described the actions of Sgt Simon Lythgoe, who was based on the Isle of Wight, as inexcusable and apologised to his victims.
At a misconduct hearing in Eastleigh, Lythgoe was found to have used force with detainees that was unnecessary, unreasonable and disproportionate.
The hearing was told that he had been sitting behind a desk at Newport police station on the Isle of Wight in January last year when a man said: “My trousers are falling down. Can you loosen my left handcuff, please? I have been asking for five hours, you’re taking the piss.”
Video footage shows Lythgoe rising from his chair, approaching the man, lifting him up by the scruff of his neck and telling the man: “I don’t like it. You don’t look aggressively at my colleague.
“Do you understand that I am in charge? If you don’t hear what I say there will be consequences.”
Matthew Holdcroft, who set out the case against Lythgoe, told the hearing: “That is the language of control and oppression. It is [the] language of a bully, and a bully who is responsible for the welfare of the detained person. A bully who has total control of the environment in which they are operating.”
The following month Lythgoe and three other officers held down a womanwho shouted at him: “Don’t fucking use force against me … Ow, ow, ow.”
Lythgoe told her he did not tolerate violence against staff and she replied: “I am not trying to be violent.”
Holdcroft said: “The woman had post-traumatic stress disorder and Lythgoe had access to records confirming this. She had been subject to years of physical abuse in a previous relationship.
“This is important because that is a trigger and more importantly, she had depression and anxiety because of the death of her daughter who had died one year before the date of her arrest.”
Lythgoe, who broke a bench-pressing world record in 2018, accepted he had used excessive force in this case, but said it had been a “difficult situation” and necessary to ensure a safe withdrawal from the cell for him and the other officers.
The deputy chief constable of Hampshire constabulary, Sam de Reya, said: “The case involving Sgt Lythgoe and the level of force demonstrated by him on duty is incredibly disappointing and completely unjustified.
“This type of extreme behaviour is never acceptable. I would like to apologise to the victims in this case and thank the colleague who stepped forward to challenge and report behaviour.”
