Six months after one of the officers of a police force in western England was jailed over the death of ex-Premier League footballer, Dalian Atkinson, the force formally apologised on Monday to the family of the deceased.

Atkinson was 48 when he died in hospital in 2016 about an hour after policeman Benjamin Monk shot at him three times — including once for 33 seconds — and kicked him twice in the head.

The officer, Monk was sentenced in June to eight years in prison for causing the death of the former Aston Villa star, with a judge saying jail time was necessary to maintain public confidence in the police.

Pippa Mills, who became head of West Mercia Police in September, wrote to Atkinson’s family saying she was “deeply sorry for the devastating impact” of Monk’s conduct.

“A police uniform does not grant officers immunity to behave unlawfully or to abuse their powers,” she wrote in the letter.

Mills acknowledged that Atkinson’s rights were breached under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In reaction, the family’s lawyer, Kate Maynard, said in a statement that the official apology was “welcomed and overdue”.

“With the first conviction of a serving police officer on a manslaughter charge connected with his policing duties in over 30 years, it is hoped that this will serve as a deterrent, and also embolden those who seek police accountability,” she said.

Atkinson died in hospital after police were called to his father’s home in Telford, north of Birmingham, in August 2016.

The judge at Monk’s trial discovered that the mental state of Atkinson — who also played for Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town and Real Sociedad in Spain — “had suddenly and dramatically deteriorated”.

He ruled that the Monk’s actions had constituted excessive force.

During the hearings, it was also found out that Monk had twice been found guilty of gross misconduct but allowed to keep his job

My wife threatened to kill my first wife, children, Man tells court