Yahoo News Man jailed for biting female police officer as she explained lockdown rules
A man who bit a police officer on the arm during the coronavirus lockdown has been jailed for 10 months.
Christopher Hill, 30, of Rossendale, Lancashire, attacked a 21-year-old female constable on 9 April as she was explaining social distancing rules to him.
Hill had been attempting to visit his partner’s address but lashed out when the officers tried to explain that his actions were a breach of the government’s guidelines.
The unnamed officer was taken to hospital near the scene of the attack in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, but was later discharged and tested negative for the virus.
Following the attack, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, branded the officer’s assailant as the “lowest of the low”.
He tweeted: “Words fail me when it comes to some people’s behaviour. This is shocking at the best of times, but during a Coronavirus Pandemic this is just the lowest of the low. I trust the CPS & Court will now do what we all expect of them!”
On Tuesday, Hill was jailed for 10 months after he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm as well as assaulting two other police officers in a scuffle and criminal damage to a door.
Sentencing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge John Edwards told him: “The public call on the police to help them when they are most in need. The police have a duty to protect the public but are too often prevented from doing so by individuals like you who choose to attack them.
“While they anticipate and expect confrontation they do not expect to be bitten to such an extent.
“This was at the very height of the pandemic and the impact on the officers cannot be underestimated, whether you were carrying the virus or not.”
He said he accepted his remorse and apologies but told him the offence was so serious that it could only be met with immediate custody.
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