William Beswick, pictured after having been cleared of a criminal offence of being grossly offensive, said the case was a farce
A victim of crime, who was himself prosecuted by police for sending ‘grossly offensive’ emails in which he used four-letters words and called a female police constable ‘fatty’, has been cleared.
William Beswick, 50 was cleared of being offensive to PC Julia Acaster by a crown court jury in just 40 minutes.
Beswick branded the case a ‘farce’ and claimed that prosecuting him was a complete over-reaction and a waste of taxpayers’ money – and that she should be more ‘resilient’ as a police officer of 20 years’ service.
The Humberside Police officer’s objections to the words were branded ‘nonsense’ and she was told that surely she had regularly heard far worse language at football matches and on rowdy Saturday nights.
Beswick, of Barrow-upon-Humber near Grimsby, pleaded not guilty to sending PC Acaster emails which were grossly offensive between March 4 and 30.
He was cleared by a jury of nine men and three women at Grimsby Crown Court after barely 40 minutes of deliberations.
The speedy decision to reject the officer’s complaint came as no surprise to anyone in court, especially as some of the jury had been seen grinning and trying to suppress smiles during the case.
One court stalwart asked if it had really taken that long to reach a verdict and wondered if the jury had insisted on having a break and eating some sandwiches before returning to court.
Laura McBride, prosecuting, said that PC Acaster was asked to investigate claims from Beswick that he was the victim of harassment but he later became unhappy with the way the matter was progressing and blamed PC Acaster.
He sent what the prosecution claimed were abusive and grossly offensive emails calling her a ‘fat fool’ and a ‘useless ****’ as well as making veiled threats.
In one message, he asked her: ‘Do you like being abused, fatty?’
The speedy decision to reject the officer’s complaint came as no surprise to anyone in the courtroom at Grimsby Crown Court, pictured, since some of the jury had been seen grinning and trying to suppress smiles during the case
The prosecution claimed that the purpose of the emails was to cause PC Acaster distress and anxiety but Beswick did not accept that they were grossly offensive.
Defence barrister Craig Lowe asked PC Acaster how long she had been in the police and whether she had ever had to attend football matches or disturbances in towns on Saturday nights when people were ‘kicking off’ when they were coming out of pubs.
She said she had been in the police for about 20 years and had experience of these situations.
Mr Lowe asked her whether she was really grossly offended by emails in which Beswick used the f-word and the c-word and called her useless.
‘You were grossly offended by them?’ said Mr Lowe. ‘Being called f***ing useless grossly offended you, did it?’
PC Acaster replied: ‘Yes, it did.’
Mr Lowe said: ‘That sort of language is something you encounter fairly often in your role.
‘If someone says ‘f***’ or ‘****’, that’s a public order offence, is it? Every time someone says that, it’s committing an offence?’
PC Acaster replied: ‘If someone said that to me in public, I would arrest them.’
She insisted that it would amount to a public order offence.
‘It was giving me anxiety,’ she claimed. ‘I made a complaint against him.’
She claimed that she thought that Mr Beswick was suggesting in the supposed veiled threats that he would stab her.
Mr Lowe asked: ‘He was basically calling you ‘fatty’. Did that bother you?’
She replied: ‘Yes, it’s offensive.’
Mr Lowe said: ‘You get called a lot worse than ‘fatty’ when you are out on the beat.’
He asked her if being called ‘useless’ and ‘fatty’ had thrown her into such a state of distress that she felt she had to tell her inspector about the matter. She was later taken off the case.
He asked PC Acaster how she felt about being called ‘you fat fool’ by Beswick.
She replied: ‘Offended.’
He told the jury that the words might be unpleasant and abusive but they were not grossly offensive.
He said of the stronger language used: ‘It’s not an offence to say that. People use it in everyday language.’
Mr Lowe said that the jury might think that the officer’s claims were ‘nonsense’ and claimed of one of the words: ‘It’s there everywhere, that particular word.’
It was true that Beswick could be ‘very difficult’ and ‘robust’ but in the emails he was trying to ‘gee up the police to get them to do their job properly’ and get them to do something about his complaint because they had supposedly done nothing for several months.
Beswick was someone who used that sort of language on a daily basis and did not think what he was saying was grossly offensive.
PC Acaster must hear words such as those Beswick used on a daily basis, said Mr Lowe.
‘It happens because it’s the real world,’ he said.
‘All he wanted to do was to gee up the police and get some progress. He wasn’t being grossly offensive.’
After the jury’s decision to clear him after only a short period of deliberation, Beswick told the jury: ‘May God bless you all. Thank you very much.’
He beamed as he told the judge: ‘Justice has been well done. That’s put a little bit of faith back in justice for me.’
Outside court, he said: ‘It was a farce. She should be more resilient as a police officer.
‘I was being harassed. The police did nothing about it so I ended up in court.
‘I have been found not guilty. What a waste of taxpayers’ money.’
He claimed: ‘They came four-handed to arrest me and dragged me out of bed.’