Two years jail for coughing thugs
THUGS who cough or spit at emergency workers during the coronavirus pandemic face up to two years in jail, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday.
Max Hill QC spoke out after cases this week involving public threats.
Police officers, paramedics and even shop workers have reported some people are claiming to have the disease and using it as a weapon.
Assaulting an emergency worker carries a sentence of up to two years.
Mr Hill said: “Emergency workers are more essential than ever as society comes together to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. I am therefore appalled by reports of police officers and other frontline workers being deliberately coughed at by people claiming to have Covid-19.
“Let me be clear – this is a crime and needs to stop. The CPS stands behind emergency and essential workers and will not hesitate to prosecute anybody who threatens them as they go about their vital duties.”
On Wednesday David Mott, 40, of no fixed address, was jailed for 26 weeks after pleading guilty to using threatening behaviour towards a police officer. Blackburn magistrates heard that police had stopped him and two others in a taxi following the Government’s ban on gatherings of more than two people.
Mott threatened to spit at Sgt Linda Haywood, who told the court: “The utter contempt he showed towards me both as a police officer and a fellow human being disgusts me.”
On the same day Darren Rafferty, 45, admitted assault after claiming to have coronavirus and coughing at police in east London. He will be sentenced next month.