West Midlands policeman who drunkenly attacked woman resigns after avoiding jail

Pc Oliver Banfield was handed a curfew and ordered to pay compensation and costs after being convicted of an early-hours attack while off duty in Warwickshire.

And now he has resigned from his post at West Midlands Police, but will still face a misconduct hearing.

Banfield was spared a jail term at Leicester Magistrates’ Court after earlier admitting a charge of assault by beating on Emma Homer.

Reacting to the sentence, Labour MP Harriet Harman questioned why he was still being employed by West Midlands Police and said the case was "proof, if any needed, that system fails women and protects men”.

Deputy Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine has now said regulations meant the force had to wait until the case had been concluded in the courts.

“I want to stress that former Pc Banfield will still face an accelerated misconduct hearing, chaired by the Chief Constable, in the near future," she said.

“The misconduct process had had to wait until after criminal and court processes concluded, because of police regulations.

“I will make the outcome of that hearing public as soon as I can.

“I recognise the distress Emma Homer – who was assaulted and verbally abused by Banfield – has suffered during this time.

“We have spoken to her today to update her on the resignation of former Pc Banfield and will continue to keep her updated.”

The 37-year-old victim, Ms Homer, hit out at Warwickshire Police’s initial handling of her complaint after she was attacked by a “drunk” Banfield while walking home at about 1am on July 26 2020.

She said that despite reporting the assault within hours of it happening, it took “more than 30 hours for an officer to take a telephone statement”, “nine days for an officer to come and see her” and “eight weeks for an officer to conduct house-to-house enquiries”.

In a victim impact statement issued through a relative, Mrs Homer said the effects of the assault had left her with “anxiety, insomnia and stress” which had been “compounded by the slow response from Warwickshire Police”.

The force has since personally apologised to Mrs Homer stating its “initial response to the report of the assault was not as swift as it should have been”.

Mrs Homer added that when the Warwickshire force presented a case file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in September 2020, it was decided not to charge Banfield.

However, aided by the Women’s Justice Centre, Mrs Homer had the CPS’s decision reviewed and the CPS charged Banfield in December 2020.