Attack claim prisoner admits string of complaints

A prisoner who alleges he was attacked by a police officer in a custody suite today admitted in court he made more than 29 unsubstantiated complaints against the police in two and a half years.

Hasan Mumtaz, who has a number of convictions for violence, was giving evidence in the trial of Pc Glynn Dutton at Sheffield Magistrates Court.

Dutton, 36, is accused of assaulting Mumtaz in a holding area at Trafalgar House police station in Bradford in June last year.

Magistrates were shown CCTV footage of the incident, which appears to show the officer shove Mumtaz down on to a bench and then struggle with him before a number of other officers arrive to help him.

Giving evidence from the dock, as the police officer sat behind his lawyer, Mumtaz said he was attacked for no reason.

The court heard Mumtaz was arrested on an outstanding warrant at Bradford Crown Court on June 18 last year before he was transported to the police station and left alone for a short time in the holding area with Dutton.

Mumtaz told the court the officer told him "Oi, sit down" and said: "You do what I tell you to do."

He said Dutton said it in a "proper bullying" way

Mumtaz told the magistrates: "I said 'I'm not a dog'."

Then, he said, the officer attacked him.

But Adrian Keeling, defending, asked Mumtaz about a series of convictions he has for violence and drug dealing.

He also asked him why he had made 29 unsubstantiated complaints about the police in a two-and-half-year period from June 2007, which he said was more than one a month.

Mumtaz said: "There's even more than that."

Mr Keeling said: "Everything from investigations not being carried out properly to being assaulted. The whole calendar, you've complained about."

Dutton, of Bridon Way, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, denies one count of common assault.

The trial is expected to finish tomorrow.

Mr Keeling then listed Mumtaz's previous convictions.

He said he was given a two-and-half-year sentence at Preston Crown Court in May 2004 for violent disorder and unlawful wounding following an incident in which a man was stabbed to death.

He said that, five months after he was released, he was given a nine-month sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

In August 2007 he was jailed for 10 months for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

Last year, he was convicted of a public order offence at Keighley Magistrates' Court and, in July 2010, he was given a sentence of 21 months at Bradford Crown Court for affray.

Mumtaz, who agreed he had these convictions, is still a serving prisoner, the court heard.

Mr Keeling said to him: "The simple truth of matter of that you seek confrontation with the police at every turn, don't you?

"You're a violent man who's prepared to talk with his fists, aren't you?

"You were faced with a perfectly reasonable request to sit down and you refused."