Sussex Police officer who pepper sprayed man should have been sacked

Former Sussex Police sergeant Ian Cheesman would have been dismissed from the force if he had not retired before a disciplinary hearing could find him guilty of gross misconduct.

The man, who can only be identified as Witness A, described the 53-year-old as a thug who seemed to take pleasure in his discomfort.

He told the disciplinary panel: “They seemed to be delighting in my frustration and anxiety. It just seemed personal."

Father-of-three Cheesman was spared jail earlier this year after a court heard he “toe-punted” the teenage girl when he was a custody officer in Chichester in April 2021.

Four months earlier, in December 2020, while working at the custody suite in Worthing, Cheesman sprayed a vulnerable man twice with his Captor pepper spray.

A disciplinary hearing at Sussex Police headquarters in Lewes was shown CCTV from a camera inside the cell.

In the footage, Witness A could be seen barefoot, wearing only his shorts with a t-shirt tied around his neck as a makeshift Covid facemask.

After removing the mattress and pillow from the cell, Cheesman returned and sprayed Witness A as he backed away from him.

Witness A was sprayed through the cell door of his police cell. Picture from Graham Bedingfield (Image: Graham Bedingfield/West Midlands Police)

The former sergeant accepted he did not give warnings before spraying the prisoner, who was clearly distressed.

After Witness A banged on the cell door again with his head and bare feet, Cheesman spoke to him. 

He then sprayed him at close range, directly into his face, through the open hatch.

Witness A said the second pepper spray made him feel like he could not take a breath.

He said: “I thought he was going to say something nice or apologise at the cell door.

“I was already choking from the first one.

“He called me to the hatch and he sprayed me thought the hole in the door.

“I felt violated.

“I couldn’t believe somebody could get off on that.

“I felt like I couldn’t get any air down into my lungs.

“It stung my eyes.

“It was a nightmare.”

Sussex Police HQ in Lewes where the hearing was held (Image: Google Maps)

Witness A told the hearing he was suffering from PTSD, OCD and was extremely anxious about the pandemic.

He was seen by a nurse at the police station.

He said: “My mental health at the time was horrendous.

“For somebody with OCD, Covid was very confusing.

“I couldn’t get to grips with it.

“It scared the life out of me.”

He told the hearing he was concerned about germs in the cell and officers not wearing masks.

“I knew my hygiene bubble had been breached,” he said. “He was using terms like ‘this is not a mental hospital’ and ‘this is not a day centre’."

Witness A told the hearing his health was so bad he should have been sectioned under the mental health act.

He was released without charge after nine hours.

Witness A said: “I just asked them to let me go home. I had been there for hours and hours.

“It was an exercise in bullying and control, that’s what it felt like."

Cheesman retired in January after completing 30 years service with Sussex Police.

He described the situation as challenging and admitted he got it wrong.

The panel concluded Cheesman had not given any warnings before spraying Witness A and had not offered any advice or aftercare.

Chair of the disciplinary panel, Harry Ireland told Cheesman his actions had not been justified.

“You breached the professional standards amounting to gross misconduct,” he said.

“These were intentional and deliberate acts.

“He was in a position of trust involving a vulnerable detainee.

“We consider Mr Cheesman would have been dismissed if he was still a serving officer.”

CCTV of Cheesman kicking a 13-year-old girl shocked other officers, a court heard.

The court was previously told how he "toe-punted" the girl like a football and said "how do you like being kicked?" at Chichester custody centre in West Sussex, during a 12-hour night shift on April 5-6 last year.

A judge ruled he had retaliated after being provoked by the teenager and he was given a 12-month community order with a requirement of 50 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £625 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.