A man has been jailed for 10 months after assaulting four police officers.
Christopher Howard, 40, of Liden Drive, Swindon, appeared in Swindon Magistrates Court on Saturday (26/09) and pleaded guilty to four counts of assaulting an officer, criminal damage and two counts of theft.
It followed his arrest in the early hours of Friday morning (25/09) when officers were called to Burford Avenue, following reports that a man had been seen interfering with vehicles parked in the street.
Officers attended the scene alongside a police dog handler, and Howard was located hiding under a flatbed lorry in Upham Road. As officers attempted to detain Howard he assaulted them, spitting at them several times. He was found in possession of several pairs of designer sunglasses.
When being transported to custody, he caused damage to the police van by spitting inside the cage and continued to spit at officers as he arrived at custody before grabbing an officers arm while in handcuffs, causing bruising. He remained abusive throughout his time in custody, and urinated in his cell causing further damage.
As well as the 10 month jail sentence, Howard was also ordered to pay compensation of £110.
Supt Phil Staynings said: “Howard’s aggressive and abusive behaviour towards police officers was completely unacceptable – nobody needs reminding that we are still living through a global health pandemic. Police officers on the frontline are working tirelessly despite these testing times to keep us all safe – they no doubt have their own anxieties and concerns about coming to work during these times and people like Howard are adding to these anxieties completely unnecessarily. Any kind of assault on an officer will simply not be tolerated – it isn’t part of the job and should never be seen as such, therefore I am pleased a custodial sentence has been imposed.
“We’d like to thank the vigilant member of the public who initially reported the suspicious activity seen in Burford Avenue, which enabled officers to swiftly attend and locate Howard who was found in possession of a number of stolen items which will now be returned to their rightful owners.”
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