Dalian Atkinson: Request to review ex-PC's manslaughter sentence rejected.
Benjamin Monk was jailed for eight years.
Last updated 11th Aug 2021
An application to increase the sentence of a former West Mercia Police officer after the death of Dalian Atkinson has been rejected.
Benjamin Monk is serving eight years in jail for the manslaughter of the ex Aston Villa footballer, after being convicted in June.
He tasered Atkinson to the ground and kicked him in the head near to Meadow Close in Telford, on August 15 2016.
An effort to review the sentence under the unduly lenient scheme has been turned down by the Attorney General’s office.
A Spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said:
“The Solicitor General was shocked and saddened by this case and wishes to express her sympathies to the family of Dalian Atkinson.
“After careful consideration the Solicitor General has concluded that she could not refer this case to the Court of Appeal.
"A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.
"The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.”
Mr Atkinson, who had smashed a window while suffering a mental health crisis, died in hospital around an hour after an ambulance was called to the scene.
According to the charity Inquest, Monk is the first police officer in England and Wales to be found guilty of unlawful killing over a death in custody or following police contact since 1986.