Police officer dismissed after assaulting man in St Helens town centre

Alexander Kean, 35, was dismissed from the police following a gross misconduct hearing where he was found to have breached the force’s standards of behaviour following the violent incident, which happened while he was off-duty.

In 2013, Kean had been commended after he saved the life of a seriously injured pedestrian on the East Lancashire Road during a snowstorm while he was driving back from a Peter Andre concert.

Kean assaulted man after Pizza Chef confrontation

The misconduct hearing heard that shortly after 2am on March 16 this year, Kean, entered Pizza Chef on Baldwin Street, while drunk in St Helens town centre.

After he ordered food, two people, referred to as ‘Mr A’ and ‘Miss B’ then entered. There was an interaction between the three people and ‘Miss B’ struck Kean who then retaliated.

The officer left the premises and walked down Baldwin Street. There was a further interaction and ‘Mr A’ attempts to kick Kean before returning to the takeaway.

A short time later, after ‘Mr A’ has left Pizza Chef again he and Kean exchange words.

Pizza Chef on Baldwin Street (Image: Google Street View)

As ‘Mr A’ followed Kean, the officer dropped his pizza box and began running back towards ‘Mr A’, pointing and talking to him.

Running at ‘Mr A’ Kean then pushed him backwards, raised his fists and adopted a fighting stance and tried to punch him.

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The hearing heard that ‘Mr A’ walked away but as he did, Kean ran after him and punched him from behind to the right side of his head, taking him to the floor and then repeatedly stuck him to the head.

‘Mr A’ then managed to get on all fours but Kean pushed him and fell over him. He then stood over ‘Mr A’ and continued to inflict a barrage of punches.

Footage showed that Kean punched ‘Mr A’ at least 26 times and during the attack, ‘Mr A’ did not retaliate. 

Kean appeared before Chester Magistrates’ Court on July 8 this year, where he pleaded guilty to assault over the incident. He was fined £440 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £174.

Kean 'disregarded the standards expected' by public

Chief Constable Kennedy said: "Based on the evidence of the CCTV footage which I have viewed, I am satisfied that PC Kean has breached the standards of professional behaviour namely discreditable conduct.

"The communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police not only uphold the law but also abide by the law.

“PC Kean has completely disregarded the standards expected both by the force and the communities of Merseyside by committing a criminal offence, namely a section 39 assault."

It was added that Keane “did have the opportunity not to reengage at all with Mr A” and “could have continued to walk away as there was some distance between both parties, but he chose not to”.

Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy (Image: Merseyside Police)

Chief Constable Kennedy added: “Whilst accepting that this was an off-duty incident, any member of the public hearing the facts of this case and the conduct of the officer would quite rightly be shocked, and it would have an impact on the trust and confidence of our communities. The public and most importantly the communities of Merseyside have an expectation that they can have trust and confidence in their police force and that the officers and staff uphold the law and can be trusted to do the right thing”.

She added: “My view is that an officer with a finding of Gross Misconduct for Discreditable Conduct with the circumstances of this case has no place in policing”.

Kean was immediately dismissed from the force without notice.