A POLICEMAN has appeared in court accused of assaulting two young men in custody.

PC Paul Ions, from Ingleby Barwick, Stockton, denies kicking and punching a teenager when they were in Stockton police station's yard and holding room on September 26 last year.

It is alleged that PC Ions assaulted Adnan Asif, 19, while he was handcuffed and on the ground, and that he punched him again inside the station.

PC Sarah Longmire told Teesside Magistrates' Court she heard him ask another officer to hold Mr Asif so he could hit him. She said she was unsure if the other officer did anything about the request.

She said: "I saw PC Ions raise a clenched fist and put it towards Adnan, it was a swinging right arm, but I did not see whether it made contact or not.

"I saw Ions swing his leg back and kick Adnan with quite a lot of force."

Under cross-examination, PC Longmire was criticised for not reporting the matter if she saw an assault.

She said: "I did not want to get a colleague into trouble.

"When I was approached, I told my honest view."

Mr Asif was arrested when police where called to a disturbance at a party in Gray's Road, Stockton.

He told the court that he endured a number of punches when he was thrown to the ground in the station's yard and said he was kicked as he lay curled up before he was punched in the face again inside.

On the other charge, PC Ions, 29, admitted punching a second man during a disturbance at Hartlepool Police Station on October 12 last year. Tom Moran, prosecuting, said Ions claims he acted in self-defence after he was punched by the man in custody.

PC Ions is currently suspended by Cleveland Police.

The trial continues.