Police officer kicked his wife down the stairs and left her with broken back

A police officer who kicked his wife down the stairs and left her with a broken back has been jailed.
Huw Orphan, who was a police constable with Gwent Police at the time of the incident, had been arguing with his police officer wife Amy Burley by text message before the attack in April 2020.
Orphan, 31, had denied inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, claiming that he had not meant to make contact with his partner nor cause her any harm but was instead trying to “jump” up the stairs to put some distance between the rowing pair when his leg accidentally made contact with her.
A jury at Cardiff Crown Court found the defendant not guilty of the charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but found him guilty of the lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm. He was also found guilty of causing actual bodily harm during a separate incident before the couple moved to Barry.
He has now been jailed for two years and six months.
The court heard it was the prosecution case that he had lost his temper and deliberately kicked his partner causing her to “fly backwards” down the stairs and break her back. Orphan had denied that, saying it was his wife who had lost her temper, not him.
The prosecution also accused Orphan of threatening his wife that she wouldn’t see her children if she did not say the right things to doctors about how the back injury had been caused, which he denied.
In his evidence, Orphan told the jury his relationship with fellow officer Amy Burley began in April or May 2018 before they married and moved in together in a house his wife was renting in Newport the following summer.
The jury was told the couple’s relationship was initially “very positive” but changed over time. By the time the couple moved to a house in Barry in February 2020, Orphan described the relationship as “in tatters”.
The court heard the altercation took place in the early hours of April 8, 2020, when PC Orphan got home from working a late shift, with the couple exchanging texts during the evening.
Giving evidence, Orphan accepted he “probably could and should have done more to take the heat out of the argument”.
The incident on the stairs took place as the couple argued. Orphan claimed his wife had thrown a child seat at him and, as he climbed the stairs, she grabbed his leg causing him to stumble. He claimed that his leg made contact with her waist as he tried to take evasive action to “haul myself to safety”. The defendant accepted that in doing this his leg made contact with his partner’s waist causing her to fall down the stairs, but denied that his action was deliberate. The prosecution’s case was that this was a deliberate act.
Orphan was also questioned about an incident which happened before the couple moved to Barry. During the incident, Orphan was found to have assaulted his partner by grabbing her and taking her to the floor following a row about sterilising baby bottles. He claimed he did this only to “neutralise the risk to me, to her, and to the children”.
On receiving the verdict, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke thanked the jury for their time, adding: “We simply could not do this without you.”
Temporary Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, of Gwent Police, said: “Former officer Huw Orphan was convicted of these horrific crimes by a jury and has been dismissed from our service due to his disgraceful actions.
“My thoughts go out to the victim in this case who has shown tremendous courage in coming forward. There is no place in our organisation or in our communities for perpetrators of domestic violence and these actions do not represent the values of the vast majority of our hard-working and committed staff, many of whom work tirelessly to prevent and detect serious offences like these.
“I know this case will have had a detrimental impact on the trust and confidence that victims of domestic abuse feel in coming forward to report to us. I want anyone considering doing so to know that we remain dedicated to supporting survivors of domestic abuse and bringing offenders to justice for these awful crimes.
“I would urge anyone who is suffering abuse to please get in touch with the police or another support service. Please don’t suffer in silence.”
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