A Met Police officer guilty of attacking a suspected theif in a Regent Street clothes shop has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service.
James Kiddie, 44, from Ruislip, will also pay £500 costs and £60 victim surcharge after his sentencing at Westminster Magistrates' Court today (Tuesday).
Kiddie, of Warrender Way, was found guilty of common assault on February 19 following a three-day trial.
He was caught on CCTV punching a woman in the head in a storeroom at the London branch of Uniqlo on November 26, the court heard.
Kiddie had responded to a call from store security at the shop, who had detained the woman suspected of shoplifting.
He attended the call alone and after searching the woman's bag, Kiddie punched her three times in the head and pulled her hair before forcing her onto her stomach and handcuffing her with her hands behind her back.
The woman was arrested for shoplifting and assault on police but an officer preparing the case for court viewed the CCTV and immediately alerted the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS).
Kiddie was removed from operational duties and the DPS launched an investigation in May 2013.
Territorial Policing Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne said: "Police officers join the Met to protect and serve the public. Today his colleagues will be sickened by what they see.
"Where an officer's behaviour falls short of the very high standards that we and the public expect of them, then it is only right that they are held to account for their actions.
"The actions of one officer abusing his position in this way can cast a shadow over the thousands of officers who are on duty right now demonstrating bravery, compassion, integrity and professionalism.
"PC Kiddie's behaviour that day, which was identified and reported by another officer, was wrong. For that he has been held accountable. There is no place in the Metropolitan Police Service for officers and staff who do not uphold our values."
The police officer had been the subject of two complaints, one in 2008 for lack of courtesy and respect and in 2011 for discriminatory comments.
He was also due to face a misconduct meeting this month for deploying CS Gas during a UK Uncut protest on Oxford Street in January 2011. The Met said it will be reviewing that process following today's hearing.
It also plans to review the process behind the previous complaints and examine if there were opportunities to have started criminal proceedings against Kiddie before his behaviour was raised by the officer who viewed the CCTV.
