Court Man, 54, admits spitting at police officer days after lockdown

AMAN has admitted he spat at a police officer in Bedminster just days after coronavirus restrictions came in.

Alan Udeh, of Jamaica Street in Kingsdown, targeted PC Scott Vivian in North Street on March 29.

It came amid a spate of alleged coughing and spitting offences against Avon and Somerset police in the days following lockdown on March 23.

Chief Superintendent Carolyn Belafonte described Udeh’s attack as “particularly abhorrent” in light of the Covid-19 crisis.

Udeh pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on July 3.

The 54-year-old will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on July 29.

There were also alleged coughing and spitting attacks on police in Bridgwater and Bath in late March.

Chief Superintendent Belafonte said at the time: “Officers are simply trying to do their job to protect the public and keep our communities safe in these worrying times.

“They do not deserve to be assaulted in any way, particularly being spat on and coughed at.

“Anyone who does this can expect to be arrested and as we have already seen elsewhere they could face a prison sentence as a result.

“Whenever these incidents happen we put our Seven Point Promise into place to ensure the officers are getting all the support they need.”

Just threatening to cough or spit at a police officer is potentially enough to see someone charged, the Crown Prosecution Service has warned.

Max Hill QC, director of public prosecutions, said: “I am appalled by reports of police officers and other frontline workers being deliberately coughed at by people claiming to have Covid-19.

“Let me be very clear: this is a crime and needs to stop.”