DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING Mr Simpson told how ex-BTP officer Minev “rubbed the glass and twisted it in my head” following the incident on a night out in Manchester
A former British Transport Police (BTP) officer who inflicted life-changing injuries on a gardener who had asked him to leave his girlfriend alone has been jailed for three years.
Ex-PC Niki Minev launched a vicious attack on landscape gardener Connor Simpson during a late-night encounter at a bar in Manchester city centre on October 8, 2022. The BTP officer, 31, was off duty when he smashed a bottle over Mr Simpson’s head before “scraping it” down his face, leaving the 28-year-old with physical and mental injuries.
Mr Simpson told how he was left with a gaping head wound that required 15 stitches, with irreparable nerve damage discovered following an MRI scan. He said Miniev’s attack has left him with mental scars, as he struggles to go anywhere that is crowded, preventing him from socialising.
He told the Manchester Evening News: “I don’t go out socialising anymore. I really don’t go anywhere that’s crowded. This has definitely had an effect on my mental health. I still have pain in my face and three scars down the left side of my face.
“He basically grabbed my girlfriend and when I told him not to do it again they were in my face… I’ve stepped back and he’s smacked me with a glass and then rubbed the glass and twisted it in my head.” Liverpool Crown Court heard that Minev had been at the Impossible Bar in Manchester city centre with a school friend, Shane Zammit, as they celebrated a mutual friend’s birthday at the time of the incident.
Prosecutor Sarah Griffin said Mr Simpson and his friend, Jonathon Taylor, were in the bar with their partners, and that, after visiting the bathroom, the landscape gardener’s girlfriend came back looking visibly upset. Ms Griffin added that she was affected by an incident involving someone from the defendant’s group.
Mr Simpson went to speak to the group, but they all laughed and moved closer to him, making him feel intimidated, as Zammit made comments including: “She loves me.” The gardener felt Minev was in his personal place and, not knowing whether he would be assaulted, put his hand on his chest to push him away.
As he did so, Ms Griffin said he turned his body towards the right and that he saw Minev “step back from the push before swinging his arm towards Mr Simpson’s head”. She added: “Connor Simpson felt ‘an instant hit’ on the left side of his face. He describes it feeling very hot before he realised blood was pouring down his face.”
Minev, of Mayflower Gardens, Rochdale, was formally dismissed by BTP following an “accelerated” misconduct hearing on December 11. He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and was jailed for three years and one month while Zammit, of Marbury Close, Cheadle Heath, Stockport, admitted wounding. He was cleared of wounding with intent but jailed for 15 months.
