Two police officers beat up a man in handcuffs after he was arrested for alleged shoplifting, a court heard.

Emanuel Frimpong was repeatedly hit with a baton by one officer and kicked in the stomach by another as three of their colleagues restrained him, the court was told.

PC Anthony Spalding, 32, and PC Darren Harris, 25, of Sussex Police, who have been suspended since the alleged incident, both deny assaulting Mr Frimpong outside the B2 convenience store in Queen's Road, Brighton, at 3am on September 25 last year.

Mr Frimpong, 35, of Brighton, had been stopped for alleged shoplifting from the store, but officers arriving first at the scene called for back-up when he became abusive, Eastbourne Magistrates' Court heard yesterday.

The court was shown video evidence recorded by CCTV cameras in the town at the start of the trial.

Mr Frimpong, who had been walking home from a nightclub, told the court that when the first two officers, a man and a woman, arrived, he was quite happy to go to a police station.

He was not drunk and had not been taking drugs, he said.

He said he tried to walk over and get into the police car, because he wanted the matter over and done with as soon as possible, but as he did so the officers tried to handcuff him.

Mr Frimpong said he objected because the first bracelet was too tight and hurt, adding: "I said, 'Why are you doing this to me, as I'm willing to go with you?' They did not arrest me or explain to me what they were doing. It was all physical," he said.

He said he he could not resist as the officers started hitting him with a baton and kicking and punching him after he managed to grab one of their batons.

He said he could not remember much more except being lifted and forcibly pushed into the back of a police van.

He said: "My stomach was in a lot pain, I did not eat or sleep properly for four days, and I still get pains in my stomach. They did serious damage."

Taxi driver Archibald Mallet told the court he saw Mr Frimpong being beaten.

He said: "I saw some brutality. I saw a policeman, the nearest one to the shop, ramming his baton into his ribs several times. The officer in the centre was hitting the man in the stomach with his right fist and the policeman on the outside kicked him with his foot in the stomach several times.

"More force was used than was needed, the man did not seem to be struggling at all."

Police CCTV operator John Duplain said he reported the incident to his supervisor.

Spalding was one of two constables involved in the arrest of Frances Whitehouse, 18, the daughter of Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse, last April.

He said in a police interview at Brighton police station after the incident with Mr Frimpong that he wanted to disarm him before putting him in the van.

He said he had been kicked in the back of the head by Miss Whitehouse when she was handcuffed in the back of a police car.

Whitehouse was sentenced to 150 hours community service for assaulting Spalding during her arrest for a public order offence.

The case is expected to conclude today.