This is PC Andrew Ott, a Metropolitan Police cop who attacked and injured a student when he tried to leave the kettle during the December 2010 demo in Parliament Square. Ott smashed William Horner in the face with the side of his riot shield knocking out one of his teeth. Then, along with two colleagues, PC Calvin Lindsay and PC Thomas Barnes, he tried to frame Horner to justify his arrest and beating.
As it happens, Ott was wearing an evidence gathering recorder throughout all this. And it turns out that the device was malfunctioning, so that the red light to indicate it was recording didn’t come on. Ott apparently assumed that the battery had run down. Or maybe, like so many of his colleagues, Ott is not only a vicious bullying state-sanctioned shitbag but also a high grade idiot, and forgot to check and wipe the memory.
In any case, somehow the recording made it through the hands of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and into a courtroom where today (19 May) Ott was convicted of Aggravated Bodily Harm (ABH). Despite the frame-up being clearly plotted on tape, he and his two mates did manage to get off on the other charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. The whole process took four years of complaints and legal pressure as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially decided there wasn’t “sufficient evidence” to proceed.
We don’t want to bleat about the state justice system, or celebrate the fact that a living creature, even one such as this, is heading to prison. And Ott is certainly not a special case. Whether they’re dishing out the beatings directly or covering for the ones who do, they are all bastards and all targets. No justice, just us.
But what is perhaps interesting about this story, if you have the stomach for it, is the glimpse the 20 minutes of audio gives into the little twisted world of Ott and his buddies out on riot duty. Ott hyped up on adrenalin and red bull boasting about cracking heads. Ott panting and starting to shit himself when he thinks he’s messed up. The easy mechanics of the frame-up amongst the boys in blue. And back to cracking heads again.
You can listen to the whole thing here thanks to “defend the right to protest”. Here are a few transcribed snippets:
“Right I’m up for this now, red bull kicked in … we’re gonna go through there, thing is I’m more covert now cos I ain’t got me jacket on and my numbers are not that well known so I’ll go stick in play now. I fuckin’ let some people have it as well. I’ve hurt me hands.”
…
Ott (shouting): “Get on the floor! Get on the floor!”
Student: “You broke my tooth!”
Ott: “Never mind.”
Other cop: “Don’t fall over then”
Ott: “It’s slippery up here mate. Up you get.”
Student: “Look at what you did”
Ott: “Not me mate you slipped on a metal fence”
Student: “You fucking bully.”
…
(Ott goes to find some cop who can give him a reason why he was chasing after the guy in the first place.)
Other cop: “he’s done nothing. All he’s done he’s jumped over the railings from the demonstration, he’s done nothing else.”
Ott: “I fuckin knocked his tooth out the cunt”
Other cop: “Yeah I know”
Ott: “Well someone’s gonna have to …”
…
Ott: “Right, Well he’s gonna have to have done something at the moment cos I just put his tooth out”
…
Ott: “Suspicion of violent disorder …? Breach of the peace I’m thinking, fuck it.”
Other cop: “Give me an idea and take my number and I’ll ….”
…
The cops exchange badge numbers and phone numbers. Then the other cop comes up with an idea.
Other cop: “I tell you what … what happened, I forgot to tell you, what happened, as he jumped over there he’s said ‘I’m gonna fuckin smash that building up’ … I’ve then called you to him and you’ve done what you’ve done so I’ll give you a statement and that’s it …”
“Cheers, it’s just, it covers everyone’s …. cheers boys, thanks for doing that.”
…
“At the end of the day, I wouldn’t have fucking worried but I knocked the guy’s tooth out I’ve had enough of these cunts I just fucking hit him.”
…
Etc. And so it goes.
