Ashfield councillor to pay cop just £5 compensation in case that shouldn’t have come to court
An Ashfield councillor has been ordered to pay just £5 compensation to a police officer after hurting his arm and breaking his watch strap when he shut a door on him, a court has heard.
Officers executed a search warrant at Coun David Martin’s address on Lawrence Park, Underwood, at 7am on November 16, 2022, prosecutor Anthony Cheung told Nottingham Crown Court.
The search warrant led to no charges being levelled against the councillor.
Coun Martin, an Ashfield Independent who represents Selston at Nottinghamshire County Council and is also the village's parish council chairman, called the prosecution “nothing short of a complete and utter waste of the taxpayers' money.”
"For the past two years I have had this hanging over me, my wife and my family and for what?
"It truly beggars belief, it really does.”
On Tuesday, Judge Steven Coupland handed him an absolute discharge which is the least severe sentence a court can impose and is only given in exceptional circumstances.
Judge Coupland told him the police were entitled to go about their business but the offence was “completely out of character”.
"This is a case which should not have been anywhere near the crown court at all,” he said.
"Serious cases such as sexual offences or ones where people are seriously hurt are being stood out of the court lists to accommodate cases like this with no justification whatsoever.
"It is staggering.”
Coun Martin, aged 58, elected to have his case heard before a crown court jury after denying the assault at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on May 17 last year.