White man at heart of explosive two-tier policing row has charges dropped

A white man at the heart explosive two-tier policing row has had his assault charges against him dropped.

Cody Harper, 20, was arrested in Birmingham in the early hours of June 21 after he came under attack from two black men.

Prior to the arrest, footage of the incident showed Mr Harper being pushed to the ground by one individual, while another tries to punch him in the back of the head.

Before the 20-year-old can get up, a female police officer can be seen pushing him into a shop's shutters.

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He is then seen swinging his arms at the officer, appearing to strike her in the head.

Following the confrontation, West Midlands Police confirmed that Mr Harper had been arrested and charged with with assault on an emergency worker.

He had been scheduled to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped the charge against Mr Harper after deciding there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute him.

It is believed that the footage showing his arrest had weakened the idea that he was aware that he was assaulting a police officer.

The video shows Mr Harper being shoved against the shop shutter just seconds after the two men attacked him before he swings his arm.

Therefore, it is understood that prosecutors could not prove he was targeting the female officer - meaning the case against him had to be dropped.

A spokesman for the CPS said: “Following a careful review of all the evidence, including video footage of the incident, we concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the suspect for assaulting a police officer.

“We have therefore stopped proceedings and written to both the suspect and the complainant confirming this.

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“We recognise assaults committed against emergency workers are abhorrent crimes, both against the victim and against society as a whole.”

West Midlands Police insisted that the 20-year-old's arrest was “lawful and came after a police officer conducting her duties was hit”.

It also confirmed that it had identified the two men who had appeared to attack him in the footage - but neither had been charged with assault and were both instead handed out-of-court disposals.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp blasted the ordeal as a “blatant example of two-tier policing”.

“[WMP] let two thugs from ethnic minority backgrounds off with a slap on the wrist while attempting to prosecute a third man - who had himself been attacked - who was white," he told The Telegraph.

“Only the intervention of the CPS thankfully stopped this from proceeding.

“Everyone should be treated the same regardless of skin colour. But the extremist and misnamed ‘anti-racist’ ideology that some police leaders have signed up to brazenly calls for people to be treated differently based on skin colour."

Former Reform MP James McMurdock described the CPS's decision today as a "good result".

He said: "An extremely important result for this young man. A failure of justice here would have haunted him for the rest of his life.

"I’m sure he’s had a very tough month… one that was completely avoidable."

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “We acknowledge and respect the decision of the CPS to discontinue the case against Cody Harper, as there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.

“The arrest that was carried out in the early hours of 21 June was lawful and came after a police officer conducting her duties was hit.

“This was a spontaneous incident, on a busy street in Birmingham city centre, with officers dealing with a number of incidents in a short period of time.”

They added: “As a result of further footage being released, a further assault was recorded and an investigation was carried out.

“The victim in that offence chose not to make a statement to officers, but we were able to identify the offenders as a result of our investigation.

“Two men were interviewed under caution for that offence and have now been given out of court disposals.

“Our officers work 24/7 to keep the public safe in often hostile, demanding and challenging circumstances, and that work continues.”

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