Officer Guilty After Student Hit With Shield

A policeman who knocked a student's tooth out using his riot shield has been found guilty of assault.

PC Andrew Ott struck William Horner as he was trying to break away from a kettled area on Parliament Square during the tuition fee protests of 2010.

An audio device on the officer's uniform recorded the incident and PC Ott was heard saying: "Poked the little c*** right in the eye."

Earlier in the day, the policeman had talked about "getting" the protesters as crowds began to gather in central London.

At Southwark Crown Court, the 36-year-old was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

However, Ott and two of his colleagues - PC Thomas Barnes and PC Calvin Lindsay - were cleared of perverting the course of justice, following allegations they had concocted an excuse to falsely arrest Mr Horner.

Giving evidence at the trial, Ott explained how he had wanted to contain the Royal Holloway student as he "believed he had done something wrong or was about to do something".

He added: "I struck him with the shield, yes. At that moment in time my threat assessment was high. He was a threat to me - I dealt with it as I saw fit.

"I struck his upper body. If his head got hit, then it got hit - I didn't aim for his head. To get a chipped tooth from a shield like that - unlucky."

During the protests, which turned violent, riot police were pelted with concrete blocks and rocks and several statues in Parliament Square were vandalised.

No further action was taken against Mr Horner following the incident.

Ott, from Rochester in Kent, will be sentenced on Wednesday morning.