Northern Ireland

Man who bit ambulance worker and police officer gets suspended sentence

A MAN who bit an ambulance worker and a police officer has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Dean English (23) of Glencaw Park in Derry admitted assaulting an ambulance worker and a police officer and resisting arrest on February 27.

The court heard that police were called to assist ambulance staff dealing with an aggressive male in Waterloo Street.

When they arrived they found English lying on the floor of an ambulance.

He was said to have been "highly intoxicated" and refused to give his details to police.

Police travelled in the ambulance to assist ambulance staff.

While en route to the hospital the defendant bit one of the ambulance staff on the hand and tried to spit in his face.

Police tried to handcuff English but he bit an officer on the hand.

Defence counsel Sinead Rogan said that her client had abstained from alcohol since this incident.

The barrister said English had been assessed as being of low risk of re-offending and said he was "a young man who made a terrible mistake."

District Judge Barney McElholm said if English had had a record he would have gone straight to custody.

Instead he imposed a sentence of four months in prison suspended for two years and ordered to pay each of his victims £500.