Dalian Atkinson 'not in his right mind' when he was tasered, according to his father

The Dalian Atkinson murder trial has heard the former footballer's father told police that his son was not in his right mind on the night he was tasered outside his family home.

On the third day of a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, jurors were read a statement given to officers by Ernest Atkinson a week after his son's death on August 15, 2016.

Mr Atkinson, who has since died, told police his son had grabbed him around the throat after "pounding" on the door of his home in Meadow Close in Telford, Shropshire, in the early hours.

The Crown alleges West Mercia Pc Benjamin Monk murdered the ex-Aston Villa striker by kicking him in the head intending serious harm, while the officer's then partner, Pc Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, struck blows with a baton out of anger.

Jurors have heard Ernest Atkinson, then aged 85, gave his account of the events to police on August 23, 2016.

His statement was summarised and read into the court record on Thursday by junior prosecution counsel Paul Jarvis.

Mr Jarvis said: "Ernest explained that he was in bed upstairs when he heard some movement outside at the front of his house.

"He saw his son Dalian standing outside on the gravel area near the front of the house."

Mr Atkinson told police he had opened a window and asked his son what was wrong, and he had asked to come inside to talk.

The former Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich player seemed to be upset, his father stated, and he opened the door for him because he was banging on it.

Addressing the jury, Mr Jarvis added: "Dalian told Ernest Atkinson that he loved him and asked why his father and the rest of the family were trying to kill him."

The court heard Mr Atkinson recalled his son saying: "I'm alive, I am the messiah, and I have come to kill you."

According to Mr Atkinson's account, his son "described himself as a born-again Christian" and appeared to be angry.

Continuing to summarise the statement, Mr Jarvis said: "At that, Dalian grabbed Ernest by the throat and pushed him down into a chair. He told him not to move otherwise he would kill Paul and Kenroy, Dalian's brothers.

"Dalian asked his father how much they had paid him."

Jurors were told Dalian then answered the phone, again shouting that he was "the messiah."

Mr Jarvis added: "Ernest had never seen his son like this before.

"Ernest then heard a knock at the door and a voice on the other side of the door said 'police'.

"From inside the house, Ernest could see and hear Dalian standing with his hands out and say 'You are going to taser me. I'm the messiah, you cannot hurt me'."

Mr Atkinson, who assumed the police would be able to calm his son down, then heard a bang as the glass in his front door was smashed.

He then made a telephone call to his son Paul and went to the back of his house.

Jurors were told Mr Atkinson saw two police officers and was informed that "Dalian was fine and that he was in an ambulance on the way to hospital".

Mr Jarvis added: "A short time later, a police officer came into Ernest's kitchen to tell him his son had died.

"Ernest told the police that, in his view, his son had not been in his right mind that morning."

Later on Thursday, an eyewitness to the alleged murder of Dalian Atkinson told the court she feared the ex-footballer was dead, as a police officer repeatedly "stamped" on his head.

Jean Jeffrey-Shaw told a jury she had to look away as he was Tasered, fell to the ground and was then stamped on several times, when she believed he had stopped moving.

Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw was among several eyewitnesses living in Meadow Close who gave evidence to the trial about the events surrounding Atkinson's death in August 2016.

She told the court she had known Ernest Atkinson, who lived next door to her, for more than 50 years, and had known Dalian Atkinson since he was a baby.

Giving her account of what happened, Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw said she heard shouting in the street, prompting her to phone Ernest Atkinson's home.

She told the court: "I said 'can I speak to Mr Atkinson please?'

"It was someone, and he said 'no darling you can't speak to him, he is otherwise engaged'."

After seeing two police officers walking "with purpose" nearby, and hearing a crashing noise, Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw said she saw a man in the street, who she wrongly thought was Dalian's nephew, fall to the ground behind a car.

"One of the officers was saying 'keep your head down' and was stamping on his head. The man lifted his knee up and stamped.

"One time he was knocking him so hard I had to look away. I couldn't stand it. He went boom, boom, boom."

Claiming the man on the ground had been stamped on "several times more than once", Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw added: "I said to my husband 'he's not moving, why is he telling him to keep his head down?'.

"I was thinking he is dead, because he wasn't moving."

The witness also said the female officer, who struck Dalian with a baton, appeared to be frightened.

"After he was stamping on the head, the lady was panicking but the other officer was calm," she said.

Asked by prosecution QC Alexandra Healy if she had seen any movement from the man while he was on the ground, Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw replied: "No, that's why I said he was dead."

Under cross-examination from Patrick Gibbs QC, for Monk, the neighbour maintained she had not mistaken two kicks to the head for stamping.

Mr Gibbs said: "A suggestion I have is that the officer has not stamped down with the sole of his boot, but he has kicked Dalian in the forehead with the front of the boot, with the laces?"

Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw said: "He was stamping. He was putting his foot down. I had to look away, it was too much for me."

Asked by Richard Smith QC, representing Bettley-Smith, if the officer had looked frightened at the scene, Mrs Jeffrey-Shaw answered: "Yes, she was frightened. She didn't know what to do with herself."

Pc Monk, 42, denies murder and manslaughter. Pc Bettley-Smith, 31, denies assault.

The case continues.