A Merseyside police employee attacked two station staff while on a night out with his partner.
Peter Kavanagh, 51, of Primrose Drive, Huyton, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, December 14. The court heard how he had assaulted two staff members while they were working at Moorfields train station.
A court heard that prior to the incident, Kavanagh, who works in Data Quality services for Merseyside police, had been celebrating his one year anniversary with his partner, and had drunk four pints of lager and half a bottle of wine. Mr Donovan Dineen-Whitham, who worked for Carlisle support services as a security officer at the station and Mr William Woods, the station manager, were both injured in the incident.
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Reading a statement written by Mr Dineen-Whitham, Mr Andrew Page, prosecuting, said the security officer heard Kavanagh shouting with a woman on the escalator. As he approached, Kavanagh, said to Mr Dineen-Whitham “Who the f**k are you? What are you going to f**king do?” and acted in an aggressive manner.
Mr Dineen-Whitham grabbed the man’s elbow and tried to escort him up the escalator towards the station exit, but he pushed him back and they both fell down. Kavanagh landed on the station manager, Mr Woods, who shouted to turn the escalator off as others could have gotten hurt.
As a result of this, Mr Woods suffered a broken finger, bruising, and cuts. Mr Dineen-Whitham pulled Kavanagh off Mr Woods, whilst Kavanagh swung at his face and his partner screamed “think about your job” and urged him to stop.
Members of the public also told him to calm down, and though he began to leave, he was still shouting abusive things, such as “come outside and see what happens”. Mr Dineen-Whitham escorted the male towards the door, but at the top of the escalators he turned and lunged at him with his head, hitting the side of his face and leaving him “slightly dazed”.
Again, Mr Dineen-Whitham tried to diffuse the situation by holding Kavanagh in a headlock and eventually pinning him to the floor, until he calmed down. After a short period, Kavanagh left through the main doors, and walked down Bale Street away from the station.
Ms Alison Sharples, defending, explained Kavanagh alleged that staff called him a “sh*tbag” and because of this, “redness dawned on him and against better judgement”, he lost his temper. He claimed that he felt intimidated because security was in his personal space, and that he only pushed the men to get them off him.
He did agree that he acted aggressively, but that it was completely out of character for him. Judge Hatton described Kavanagh’s behaviour as “horrendous” towards “people just doing their job”.
Kavanagh pleaded guilty to two counts of assault of a person thereby causing them actual bodily harm for the assault on the two men. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, and he must abide by a curfew of 8pm-7am for that time.
He was also ordered to pay £300 compensation to each of the victims, and undertake 20 rehabilitation days with the rehab service.
He will now face gross misconduct proceedings for breaches of the standards of professional behaviour connected to a criminal conviction.
Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley said: "Merseyside Police demands the highest standards of professionalism and integrity from all its members of staff, not just police officers.
"The public would rightly expect for anyone employed by the force to behave in a lawful, professional, and respectful manner at all times and when that is not the case that they are dealt in the correct manner through the courts.
"We want our communities to have trust and confidence that only those who adhere to our high standards continue to work for Merseyside Police. But I want the public to be reassured that the vast majority of our officers and staff work in a professional and committed manner to serve the communities of Merseyside day in, day out and the actions of one person should do nothing to undermine that fact.
"I am sorry that the two members of staff who were assaulted had to deal with this totally unacceptable behaviour by someone who was employed by Merseyside Police and apologise to them both."
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