A police constable has been sacked for Tasering a vulnerable man six times at his home in Tameside.

PC Phillip Smith has been dismissed by Greater Manchester Police and banned from policing for life after a disciplinary panel found his actions amounted to gross misconduct.

In June 2018 PC Smith had been carrying out a welfare check on a man suffering from mental health difficulties when he discharged his Taser twice in the man’s bedroom, twice in his hall and porch, and twice in his front garden.

Members of the panel said PC Smith lost “his temper and self-control” during the incident and Tasered the man to “cause pain with no justification”.

Chairman of the panel, Paul Forster said: "PC Smith failed to reassess the situation when the victim was in handcuffs.

"Once outside the bedroom, the victim did not pose a risk, PC Smith failed to give a warning and there was no justification for discharging his Taser.

"PC Smith lost his temper. It was a gratuitous act to cause pain with no justification. PC Smith lost self-control and failed to show the victim respect."

Charles Apthorp, representing Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said PC Smith “failed to act with self-control and tolerance” towards a vulnerable member of the public and “failed to use his powers and authority lawfully”.

He added: “Discharge of the taser was an excessive and disproportionate use of force - there was no justification for the deployment with the victim posing no threat and being a vulnerable person.

“The victim had not committed any offence and there was no reasonable reason to suspect he had.”

PC Smith, who was a response officer at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to common assault at Preston Crown Court in September 2021 following an independent investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after the incident was referred by GMP.

He was handed an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay his victim £250 compensation following the incident in Dukinfield.

The crown court case only dealt with the final four discharges, whereas the disciplinary hearing looked at the whole incident.

Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Allen, head of GMP’s Professional Standards Branch, said: “Policing is a privilege where we are entrusted to safeguard members of the public and discharge our duties with kindness and compassion, but Smith’s unlawful and excessive use of force against a vulnerable man was the polar opposite of that and secures himself a lifetime ban from policing."