Avon and Somerset Police taser innocent man in groin for no reason.

Peter Cox, 49, had 50,000 volts fired into his groin by a police officer in Bridgewater on the 13th of July, 2010.

Mr Cox was on his way to do some landscaping work at the home of a friend when he noticed a police patrol car was following him.

He pulled over outside friend Donna Allen's house in Bridgwater, Somerset, but after a short conversation with police officers collapsed to the ground after being shot in the groin.

Eyewitnesses say the male officer pointed the taser gun at Peter Cox "for more than 20 seconds" before lowering the weapon.

But the weapon discharged "accidentally" and Peter dropped to the ground in agony after one electric probe missed his genitals by two or three inches.

Mr Cox said: "I got out of the car and asked the police what they wanted. I then asked them to park on the other side of the road because we were working on the front garden.

"The officer didn't say anything, but he got out of the car and pulled out a taser and pointed it at me.

"I didn't know this at the time so I just went on with what I was doing and got a bag of stone for the garden out of the boot. Then he shot me.

"I wasn't looking but Donna says he had it pointed at me for 20 seconds before it went off.

"I was really shocked and I didn't know what was going on. I got one in my groin and one in my ankle.

"It really hurt. It just stunned me completely and felt like someone was stabbing me with a fork all over my body.'

The electric taser probes hit Peter in the groin and his right ankle.

Paramedics treated Peter, who suffers from debilitating Guillain Barri syndrome, on the front lawn of the property.

Father-of-one Peter denies acting aggressively towards the officers and was completely dumbfounded as to why he was tasered.

A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset police said that officers had wanted to speak to Mr Cox as they suspected the BMW he was driving was not insured.

But Peter called his insurers immediately after the incident and it was confirmed the car had valid insurance.

Peter now plans to sue the constabulary for damages and is seeking the advice of solicitors.

He added: "After it happened the driver of the police car came up to me and said, 'The reason we wanted to talk to you was because your car came up as no insurance."

"But I checked and there definitely is valid insurance.

"To this date they haven't contacted me or any of the other witnesses or neighbours. I would like an apology."

Donna Allen, 47, added: "When I asked them if they were going to take statements the sergeant actually said to me they wouldn't need to because the officer admitted accidently discharging the gun."

Chief Constable escapes jail

A police chief has been forced to return 87 computer hard drives to an expert witness.

Colin Port, Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset, had been facing contempt of court charges for delaying the return of hard drives to Jim Bates, a computer analyst whose home was searched by police last year.

The police search of Mr Bates’s home was declared illegal by the High Court in May because Mr Port’s officers had drawn up a warrant incorrectly and taken away legally privileged material.

Mr Port took legal advice about how he could avoid complying with the court order.

But on Monday night, just hours before the chief constable was due in court to answer the contempt allegation, the computer material was delivered to the offices of Mr Bates’s solicitor.

Mr Bates’s lawyers, who are to seek compensation for the illegal search of his home, said the hard copy images were contained in legal case files which were stored in his garage. They said some of the material had originally been given to him by police and prosecution authorities and dated back 10 years.

Lord Justice Stanley Burnton said Mr Bates had held all the material “in a professional capacity” and that that Mr Port’s delayed compliance with a court order was “regrettable”.

The judge added: “The conduct of the chief constable since the order was made has been of concern to us”.

Mr Bates, 68, is regarded as a pioneer of forensic computer examination and was widely used as a prosecution and defence expert witness for many years. But the Crown Prosecution Service stopped using him and in 2006 issued confidential guidance concerning him to prosecutors.

Avon & Somerset police began a fresh investigation into him last September after he was given by police a copy of the hard drive of a man charged with possessing child abuse images on computer. Mr Bates was given the material at a Bristol police station when he arrived in the capacity of assistant to another expert witness.

Police later raided his Leicestershire home and he was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to possess indecent images of children. That investigation has now been dropped.

Mr Bates has long contended that the actions against him are an attempt to discredit him because he now acts as a defence expert and is an outspoken critic of police investigations.

He is particularly critical of the conduct of Operation Ore, a nationwide inquiry into online child abuse which led to thousands of arrests, convictions and cautions.