A man who threw dumbbells and a knife at police officers after they were called to a report he was threatening his his ex-partner has been jailed for five years.
Christopher Rogers, of West Cliff Road, Ramsgate, admitted possessing a knife, attempted wounding with intent and assaulting a police officer when he appeared before Canterbury Crown Court on Monday, 20 August.
Officers were called to a Ramsgate address at 11.14pm on Thursday, 31 May, after receiving a report that Rogers was being abusive to his ex-partner, refusing to leave her property and spitting at her. After grabbing two kitchen knives he finally left the flat.
Whilst taking an account of the incident from the victim, another patrol attended Rogers’ home where the 31-year-old confronted them with knives, before retreating to his bedroom. In an attempt to calm the situation the officers spoke to him through the closed door, but Rogers opened the door and threw a 10kg dumbbell which struck PC Mark Bramwell.
Rogers, who was being verbally abusive to the officers, then threw another dumbbell and a kitchen knife at PC Bramwell. The knife narrowly missed the officer and broke on impact with the wall. The officers retreated from the building and were joined by additional patrols with riot shields. With their assistance, Rogers was detained and arrested.
When he was interviewed Rogers said he did not remember much of the evening or the attack on the police. On being shown the officer’s body worn video camera footage of the incident he confirmed he was the man in the film.
At Canterbury Crown Court His Honour Judge James commended the brave actions of the three attending officers, PC Mark Bramwell, PC Daniel Sheppard and PC Liam Johnson. He said their calm and measured actions prevented an even more serious offence being committed.
Investigating Officer PC Christopher Howard said: “The officers called to Rogers’ home had a duty to investigate a serious allegation of domestic abuse. They were met with aggression and violence. Despite their best efforts to calmly resolve the situation they found themselves at risk of being seriously assaulted.
“The body worn video camera footage of the incident shows the abuse they suffered at the hands of Rogers. Despite his claims that he could not remember much of the interaction with the PCs, on being shown the video he admitted the offences in court.”