An officer who punched a “violent and disruptive” domestic abuse suspect four times while being held in a police cell has been cleared of misconduct.

Kent custody sergeant Paul Coughlan, 52, was found to have acted legitimately – using a proportionate and necessary level of force, a disciplinary panel has ruled.

DS Coughlan delivered the blows to Reece Cannon at Canterbury police station during repeated attempts to get the 26-year-old to put his arm back into his custody suite.

The incident was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after Cannon, who had been arrested on suspicion of punching, biting, strangling and head-butting his girlfriend on March 29, 2017, complained he had been struck by the custody officer.

The IOPC investigation, which ended in July 2017, concluded that a tribunal, suitably directed, could find PS Coughlan’s actions constituted gross misconduct.

The complaint about PS Coughlan's behaviour led to the officer being convicted of common assault at Maidstone magistrates’ court in April 2018.

However this was later overturned on appeal by the Crown Court in August, which said it could not be sure the use of force was unreasonable.

Cannon was later convicted of assault, and in August, jailed for 35 months at Canterbury crown court.

The misconduct panel was told that PS Coughlan was a “thoughtful” officer who others turned to for advice, and said he had made “an honest and good faith judgment about what to do” in difficult circumstances.

The panel heard it took five officers to eventually get Cannon’s arm back into the cell and how he had been causing disruption when PS Coughlan arrived for his 7am shift by repeatedly banging on his door and attempting to talk to another detainee.

In concluding no misconduct had taken place, the panel ruled it was satisfied the officer reasonably feared being grabbed or otherwise assaulted by Cannon and that he did what he thought was necessary for a “legitimate purpose”.