A man who assaulted four police officers, attempting to push one down a flight of stairs and saying he had coronavirus after coughing in the face of another, has been jailed for 120 days.
Officers from Thanet’s Local Policing Team were called to a disturbance at a property in St Mildred’s Road, Ramsgate, at 4am on Sunday, September 20.
Thomas Farley was arrested, but resisted being taken into custody by kicking, attempting to bite and trying to headbutt attending officers.
When he arrived at Margate Police Station, he coughed in another officer’s face and claimed he had coronavirus.
Farley, of no fixed address, was charged with four counts of assaulting an emergency worker and appeared before Maidstone Magistrates’ Court the following day.
The 26-year-old admitted all four assaults, as well as a public order offence, and was jailed for 120 days.
Police had been called following reports Farley had made threats to other people at the property. When officers arrived, they attempted to speak to Farley, who was evasive.
He was then arrested on suspicion of assault and affray and, as he was taken to a police car, he tried to push an officer down a flight of stairs.
Farley then kneed the officer in his leg and attempted to bite another officer on her arm. He also made homophobic comments and tried to headbutt a third officer.
He was taken in a van to Margate Police Station, where he coughed in the face of a fourth officer and told him: ‘I’ve got coronavirus’.
Acting Chief Inspector Dan Carter, District Commander of Thanet, said: “Police officers are required to attend unpredictable, challenging and sometimes volatile situations but this doesn’t mean they should accept being abused or assaulted.
“Being assaulted must never be seen as being “part of the job” and any offenders will face the full force of the law.
“Farley’s actions on the night of this incident were despicable and it is lucky that the officers who arrested him were not more seriously injured.
“I would like to praise their skill in dealing with this extremely violent offender and the quality of the case that was put together, which has seen him jailed.”
Why can’t the police just beat them up. The courts are useless at stopping crimes in fact the courts encourage crimes. By their pathetic sentences. This yob should be giving a good kicking. He might think twice about doing again.
Would have been in many countries in Europe. He would have been wacked with a baton when the police turned up as a greeting. What do the police have to lose now? Criminals think they are a joke anyway so they are not gaining respect by treating them nicely. Even a lot of law abiding citizens think they are useless.
120 days, yes I’m sure that is going to deter him from doing anything like that again ffs.
120 days, reduced to 60…hardly a deterrent …
Rent free, 3 meals a day , fresh bedding, room service, free TV, no waiting for Doctors appointments….
How is that any kind of punishment?
That’s liberal justice for you. There is no longer a deterrent and criminality is no longer punished. The liberal justice system doesn’t believe in punishing offenders and it’s never the offenders fault it’s always someone else’s fault. Taking responsibility for your actions is a thing of the past in Liberal Britain
I think police should automatically be able to taser everyone that behaves like this. We are far too soft with people “Kicking off” 24?7 who then rely on a “No comment” interview in an attempt to evade prosecution! I think that “No comment” rule should be changed to “No contest” because if an individual is genuinely innocent of a crime then they would have no problems giving police details backing up their alibis and statements to prove it!
This would make prosecutions far more likely to succeed than they are currently.