Met officer convicted of assault for PAVA spraying man climbing down high-rise building

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer has been convicted of assault for twice spraying PAVA incapacitant at a man who was climbing down the side of high-rise building in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, in August last year (2022).

Following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), Police Constable Luke Wenham, 31, who is attached to the Central South Basic Command Unit, was found guilty on 21 June of two counts of common assault at the end of a one-day trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He was sentenced on 26 July to do 100 hours of unpaid work.

We established that PC Wenham and other officers attended a high-rise residential property in SE1 around 8.20 am on 17 August to locate a man who was wanted in connection with multiple robberies. The officers forced entry to an apartment on the twelfth floor of the building where they located the man who, in attempting to escape the officers, climbed out of a window and began scaling down the side of the building via a drainpipe.

Mobile phone and police body worn video (BWV) footage obtained during our investigation were played in court, which showed PC Wenham leaning out of a window on the twelfth floor and spraying PAVA at the man, who had climbed down to the storey below but was still holding on to the drainpipe. They also heard he took possession of a second officer’s PAVA spray, following this discharge, as he said his was empty.

The officers gained entry to a second apartment on the seventh floor as they attempted to detain the man, who was continuing to climb down the building. Further footage showed the officers entering the apartment and running to the balcony, where PC Wenham leaned over and sprayed the man towards the back of his head as he climbed down the drainpipe to the balcony below. The man remained on this balcony until he was eventually detained and arrested by the officers several hours later, following prolonged negotiation.

IOPC director Steve Noonan said: “Officers are instructed that any force they use must be necessary, reasonable and proportionate. At the time he was sprayed, the man was not posing an immediate risk to the officers or anyone else. The national guidance on PAVA spray lists some of the most common reactions on being exposed to it include the individual moving their hands to their face, their legs becoming weak and temporary blindness. It is clear that in spraying the man twice at considerable heights, PC Wenham exposed him to the genuine risk he could have lost his grip on the pipe and fallen, which would have likely had fatal consequences.”

We began our investigation in August 2022, after we received a conduct referral from the force, and concluded in January 2023 when we sent a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). During our investigation we secured and reviewed mobile phone and police body worn video footage. Witness accounts were taken from members of the public and the other officers present and PC Wenham was interviewed under caution. We also determined PC Wenham had a disciplinary case to answer for gross misconduct, which the force will now arrange in due course.