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A ‘bully’ police officer left a 10-year-old boy with severe autism cowering on the floor after launching a sickening assault at a special needs school.

CCTV footage from a corridor at a special needs school in Liverpool shows Christopher Cruise, 57, threateningly pulling his leg back as if he is about to kick the youngster, who curls up on the floor in terror.

The child can be seen trying to crawl through a door before Cruise reaches down and grabs his jacket and drags him along the corridor.

The incident, which took place in January last year, left the boy with injuries to his knee.

Afterwards, he pointed at another child and snarled: ‘You’re next.’

Cruise, a former school liaison officer, was found guilty of assault, with the conviction later upheld on appeal. He was handed a suspended sentence.

But he was fined £800 and ordered to pay £100 compensation and £500 costs on top of an extra £1,620 for the failed appeal.

Merseyside Police said he would have been sacked had he not already retired after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of gross misconduct.

The boy’s family said they were ‘absolutely furious’ with the ‘lenient’ sentence.

One relative told the Liverpool Echo: ‘I think he should have been put in prison. His sentence was so lenient. He is a bully, that’s all he is, just a bully.’

The family member said the boy is small for his age, ‘has autism and struggles a lot’, adding: ‘We are all absolutely furious. His days are hard enough already.’

It remains unclear how the incident started as the boy still struggles to talk about the attack with his family.

Speaking after the misconduct hearing, Detective Superintendent Cheryl Rhodes said: ‘Merseyside Police takes the professional standards of its officers and staff extremely seriously.

‘The actions of this officer are not reflective of the behaviour and standards of our schools officers who do a fantastic job day in and day out.

‘Following the incident all schools officers underwent additional training in conjunction with the Merseyside Police training academy, School Improvement Liverpool and the local authority.

‘The public quite rightly have high expectations of our officers and we seek to uphold that and ensure that the meet those expectations.

‘Sadly, on a minority of occasions, when they fall short we will take swift and effective action to ensure that we retain the public’s confidence in the force.’

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