A man who spat in a police officer’s face claiming to have coronavirus, having previously thrown urine into the faces of prison officers, has been sent to prison.
Michael James, 34, tried to spit at and bite officers at the Bridewell custody suite in Nottingham before he spat in another officer’s face on 1 July 2021.
That offence, which James admitted to, came after he had thrown urine in the faces of three prison officers at HMP Nottingham on 15 March 2020.
James, of St Ann’s Gardens, St Ann’s, pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting an emergency worker and three charges of administering a noxious substance.
He was jailed for two years for those offences when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Wednesday (1 September 2021).
James was also handed an additional 12 months in prison, to be served consecutively, after pleading guilty to a burglary at The Bierkeller pub in Friar Lane, Nottingham, between 16 and 17 January 2021.
He was caught on CCTV entering the premises and stealing alcohol.
Chief Superintendent Mathew Healey, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“I’m very pleased James has been brought to justice for his disgusting crimes and hope he will reflect on his abhorrent behaviour from his prison cell.
“To assault a police officer, prison officer, or other emergency service worker should never be accepted as ‘part of the job’.
“As the force has repeatedly shown, we will not hesitate to prosecute those who put the safety of our 999 staff at risk in this way when they are working hard to do their job and serve the public.
“Anyone who commits such crimes should be left in no doubt that we take these cases extremely seriously and we will continue to take the strongest action possible against anyone who behaves in this way and put them before the courts at the earliest opportunity.”
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This feral creature will be out in 18 months. Given he was in prison at the time, he is clearly a career criminal and should be locked up for far longer.
If he behaves like this in a controlled environment, what will he do once freed? It beggars belief.