Suspended Sentence for Surrey Police Officer Found Guilty of Common Assault

Published on: 1 Nov, 2021
Updated on: 3 Nov, 2021

By Emily Coady Stemp

local democracy reporter

A now-retired Surrey Police officer has been given a suspended sentence in a case where he was found guilty of common assault on a 15-year-old boy who was already being restrained.

Sergeant Terry Fry, 54, was part of the Guildford neighbourhood team at the time of the incident. He retired in February but will face gross misconduct proceedings next month.

He was found guilty of common assault in July at Brighton Magistrate’s Court. In June 2020 he had used excessive force against a 15-year-old in police custody when he put his knee onto the chest of the restrained teenager.

On October 22, he was sentenced to eight weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, must do 200 hours unpaid work, pay costs of £620 and a victim surcharge of £128.

Sergeant Fry was in the custody suite at Guildford police station around 12.30am on 10 June 2020 when the incident took place.

According to Surrey Police, the boy, who had been arrested for a number of offences, including assaulting police, racially aggravated public order and arson, was in a cell and being restrained in a body cuff, leg restraints and a spit hood.

He was being extremely aggressive, violent and verbally abusive. There were several other officers in the cell at the time when Sergeant Fry knelt on the floor next to the boy and placed his left knee in the boy’s chest before being pulled away by some of his colleagues.

Speaking after the guilty verdict was given, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable for Surrey Police Ali Barlow said: “Our officers join the Force to serve and protect the Surrey public from harm and whilst there are times where force has to be used in order to do so, excessive use of force, as seen in this case, is completely unacceptable.

“Sgt Fry crossed the line by assaulting a 15-year-old boy whilst he was already being restrained by officers in custody and today’s verdict will ensure that he is held accountable for his actions.

“While Sgt Fry has since retired from the Force, he will still face gross misconduct proceedings at a later date.”

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