A police officer kept a businessman in a jail cell despite knowing he was innocent because he ‘disliked’ him, a court has heard.
PC James Martin, 36, of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, allegedly knew that private security boss Benjamin Churchill had done nothing wrong but allowed him to spend more time locked up in custody.
Mr Churchill was arrested in front of his seven-year-old son after a colleague of PC Martin made a prank call pretending to be him and called Martin a ‘p***k’.
Prosecutors allege PC Martin committed misconduct because he did not speak up once he discovered the prank so that Mr Churchill spent longer in custody.
He then lied about his knowledge of Mr Churchill’s innocence, it was heard.
Serving officer PC Martin is on trial accused of misconduct in a public office, which he denies.
Salisbury Crown Court, in Wiltshire, heard that PC Martin ‘disliked Mr Churchill and would not have minded if he had stayed in custody longer’.
The Hampshire Constabulary officer had ‘issues’ with bouncer and security provider Mr Churchill for some time preceding the incident on December 30, 2022 and suspected him of being involved in the illegal drugs trade, jurors were told.
PC James Martin, 36, of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, is accused of misconduct in public office after allegedly allowing an innocent man to spend more time in custody
PC Martin, a specialist dog handler in Newport on the Isle of Wight, also believed that Mr Churchill would use excessive force on nightclub clients.
Following a ‘professional disagreement’ on December 10, Mr Churchill reported PC Martin for intimidating behaviour.
Subsequently PC Martin sent an email to numerous colleagues saying that he was suspicious of the bouncer.
He told them of his suspicions of Mr Churchill’s involvement with drugs, and said that they should follow up on any reports of him using excessive force.
Late on December 30, friend and colleague PC Benjamin Magee, who had received the email, decided to prank call the officer by pretending to be Mr Churchill.
He told PC Martin that he’d ‘heard he’d been chatting about him’ and called him a ‘p***k’.
PC Martin was apparently unaware that this was a joke and immediately reported the call to senior officers as a threat, the court heard.
He also changed his phone number the next day because he believed that Mr Churchill had his contact details.
Bouncer Benjamin Churchill spent around an hour and 40 minutes in police custody for a phone call he did not make
The day after the call was made, Mr Churchill was arrested in front of his seven-year-old son while they were playing draughts.
He was arrested for malicious communication and kept in custody for an hour and 40 minutes.
However, just minutes after the arrest PC Olivia Peachey, who witnessed the prank call, heard that PC Martin had taken it seriously and messaged him to tell him it was just a prank.
PC Martin replied: ‘You’re joking. Benjamin Churchill has just been nicked.’
He went on to say that he was ‘beyond angry’ and called PC Magee a ‘f***ing p***k’, before saying that he couldn’t talk because he was in the police station and had to go.
But, prosecutors allege that minutes after these messages, PC Martin gave a witness statement about the incident – and didn’t mention that it was a prank at all.
It is claimed he signed the statement confirming that everything he said was true to the best of his knowledge, despite knowing at that point it was not Mr Churchill who had made the call.
This happened at the start of Mr Churchill’s custody, which would have been much shorter had PC Martin come clean, prosecutors say.
PC Peachey, now a Sergeant, contacted PC Magee at the same time as PC Martin to alert him to the incident.
Mr Churchill was only released after PC Magee went to the station himself to confess that this was the result of a prank that went ‘horribly wrong’.
Mr Churchill told the court that it was ‘very scary’ for his son to see him arrested, and his time in custody felt like ‘forever’.
PC Magee was ordered to issue a full and public apology to Mr Churchill after a misconduct hearing last year.
Prosecuting, Stephanie Painter said: ‘PC Martin received a call in the early hours of 30 December 2022.
‘It was a threatening call he believed was from Mr Benjamin Churchill but was in fact a prank call from PC Magee which he was unaware of.
‘He immediately reported it. The next day at 11:53am, Mr Churchill was brought to the police station into custody.’
She continued: ‘PC Martin found out at 12:49 that it was a prank call. He didn’t tell the investigating officer that he knew.
‘That meant Mr Churchill stayed in custody until 13:43 when PC Magee told police it was him.
‘If PC Martin had informed the officer Mr Churchill would have been released from custody. Instead he chose not to tell the police at the time.
‘PC Martin disliked Mr Churchill and would not have minded if he had stayed in custody longer.’
The trial continues.
