‘No justice’...thug who beat PC spared jail
POLICE say they have been “betrayed” by the judicial system after a man was spared jail despite putting an officer in hospital by attacking him with a PC’s baton.
Shocking bodycam footage shows Matthew Wagstaff striking PC Andrew Burnham repeatedly over the head with the stick.
Despite being convicted of causing actual bodily harm and attacking an emergency worker, Wagstaff, 31, walked out of court with a suspended sentence.
PC Burnham suffered large cuts and lumps to his forehead and the back of his head, as well as cuts to his left hand and shin.
Sgt Zoe Wakefield, chair of
Hampshire Police Federation, said: “For the judge to give a suspended sentence in this case is completely unacceptable.
“This tells criminals that you can strike a police officer on the head, more than once, with a metal stick and not go to prison.”
John Apter, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the sentence was a “betrayal” and plans to raise the case with Home Office ministers.
Wagstaff, of no fixed address, fled officers after being caught buying drugs in Gosport, Hants, and began jumping over garden fences. He grabbed PC Craig Bibby’s police baton before violently striking PC Burnham over the head with it. Wagstaff was given an 18-month jail term – suspended for 18 months – with a drug rehabilitation requirement at Portsmouth Crown Court. He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to PC Burnham and £100 to PC Bibby. A request to refer the sentence to appeal judges has failed on the actual bodily harm charge.