Former Taunton PCSO on trial accused of lying about being attacked by a drunk homeless man

Thomas Rowland, 25, wrote a formal statement claiming he had been punched in the abdomen by alcoholic Laurence Best as he tried to move him on from the back of a supermarket.

Rowland was a PCSO based at Taunton at the time of the incident in September 2016 and had already moved Mr Best on once after finding him drunk near the crown court building.

The PCSO confiscated a bottle of vodka but Mr Best went to Tesco Express on the High Street, where he bought another bottle and a carton of orange juice.

Rowland went to find him after being alerted by a CCTV operator and located Mr Best slumped on the back steps of the supermarket.

He took the alcohol off him, went inside the shop to pour it away, and then returned to warn Mr Best that he would be excluded from Taunton town centre for a day if he tried to buy any more.

A jury at Exeter Crown Court has been shown CCTV of the incident on the steps which led Rowland to call for back up and file a report claiming he had been punched to the left side of his abdomen and also received a glancing blow to his wrist.

The prosecution say it shows Mr Best sitting up and grabbing at Rowland but not with a clenched fist and with no or minimal contact.

Mr Best suffered a cut on his nose in a struggle as he was arrested by three officers who Rowland summoned as back up.

He was charged with assaulting a police officer, an offence which carries a six month sentence, and the case was only dropped after he appeared at Taunton Magistrates' Court.

The CCTV was examined by the Crown Prosecution Service who discontinued the prosecution but initiated an investigation into Rowland. Mr Best admitted an alternative charge of being drunk and disorderly.

Rowland, of Wellington, Somerset, denies attempting to pervert the course of justice.

IN THE COMMUNITY: Mr Rowland during his time as a PCSO in Taunton

Mr Gareth Evans, prosecuting, said Rowland's witness statement said he had been punched with force by Best using a clenched fist but he had suffered no injury because the blow landed on a part of his abdomen which was protected by a stab vest.

He said the CCTV showed this was not true but that Rowland's witness statement had put Mr Best at risk of going to jail for a crime he did not commit.

Mr Evans said: "What you can see clearly from the CCTV is that there is no truth whatsoever in this defendant's report that he was forcibly punched with a clenched fist.

"You may form the view that Mr Best was trying to attract his attention. That would not have led to him being in court for an imprisonable offence.

"Fabricating evidence is the most obvious example of attempting to pervert the course of justice. This case went all the way to court. The only thing that could have been worse was if nobody had picked up the CCTV.

"We say Rowland's statement is a fabrication, not a complete fabrication because parts of it are right and borne out by CCTV. The part about being physically punched is untrue."

The trial continues.