Met police officer breaks down in tears as he is cleared of unlawfully inflicting GBH on man paralysed from the waist down when he Tasered him during first Covid lockdown

• PC Mahmood, 36, was accused after an incident during a Covid lockdown patrol

A Met Police officer has been cleared of unlawful GBH over a man who was left paralysed after being Tasered.

Imran Mahmood was found not found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on Jordan Walker-Brown.

He and people in the public gallery cried in the courtroom after the verdict was heard. 

PC Mahmood, 36, was accused after an incident during a patrol in the early months of the first Covid shutdown on May 4, 2020.

Mr Walker-Brown, who was 23 at the time, was left paralysed from the waist down after falling backwards over a fence, hitting his head on the footpath behind and breaking his back.

He had not pulled out any weapon at the time he was tasered, Southwark Crown Court was told earlier in the case.

The court heard that PC Mahmood was patrolling the Haringey area of north London with eight other officers when their marked van turned into Burgoyne Road.

Imran Mahmood was found not found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of unlawful GBH 

Jordan Walker-Brown (in a wheelchair) was tasered on top of a wheelie bin

The defendant noticed Mr Walker-Brown walking along the pavement and decided to speak to him.

PC Mahmood and a colleague chased him and drew their Tasers while the van followed. Mr Walker-Brown then entered the front garden of a house and tried to climb over a fence leading to a footpath, but first had to jump on to wheelie bins to make it over. 

At that point, the defendant drew his Taser, which created an electric shock that caused his alleged victim to tumble backwards over the fence.

He could not use his arms to control his fall, landed head-first on the footpath below and broke his back.

Prosecutor Ben Fitzgerald KC told jurors: ‘Mr Walker-Brown did not present a physical threat to Mr Mahmood or anyone else. He did not produce a weapon or try to attack anyone; he was trying to get away.

‘Mr Mahmood fired the Taser at the moment when it looked as if Mr Walker-Brown might get away over the wall.

Jordan Walker-Brown, who it was said ‘did not present a physical threat to Mr Mahmood’

‘He discharged the Taser when Mr Walker-Brown was up on the wheelie bin, with the obvious risk of injury from an uncontrolled fall, which is exactly what happened, with catastrophic results.

‘Mr Mahmood should not have used the Taser. It was not, the prosecution say, a reasonable use of force in the circumstances he faced. It was not lawful.’

He added that PC Mahmood had been taught that Tasers cause ‘intense pain’ which leave the subject unable to control the muscles in their body, and that tasering someone at a height carries a ‘particular risk’.

Jordan Walker-Brown said he knew what the verdict would be before it was heard.

He told reporters outside the court today: ‘I feel like he won before he got here, it’s rigged, I was fighting against something that is bigger than everything.

‘But I’m over it, it’s done.’

He added: ‘Win or lose, it’s a losing battle.’

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