Calls for courts to get tougher on 999 attacks
MP LEADS PUSH AFTER WEEKEND ASSAULTS ON CREWS
COURTS have been urged to impose tougher penalties on people who attack emergency workers, after three ambulance crews were assaulted in just one weekend.
Easington MP Grahame Morris called on the Government to ensure courts were imposing more custodial sentences, after he discovered just one in six people found guilty of assaulting an emergency worker were being jailed.
North East Ambulance service revealed there were three violent assaults in separate incidents on Saturday night and Sunday morning last weekend, putting two staff in hospital.
The MP recently tabled a House of Commons question asking for information and was told by the Home Office that there were 9,350 guilty verdicts on 2019, of which 1,533 led to a custodial sentence.
The average custodial sentence was 2.6 months, when courts have the power to impose a sentence of up to a year.
Mr Morris said he was not opposed to increasing the maximum sentence, but he was concerned that courts are currently not using the powers they already have to punish offenders.
He said: “I am concerned about the attack on an ambulance crew working in East Durham on Sunday.
“There needs to be a clear message that attacks on emergency workers will not be tolerated and that offenders will be arrested and prosecuted.
“There should also be an expectation that if you commit such an offence, the most likely outcome will be a custodial sentence.
“These assaults are terrible for staff health, wellbeing and safety at work. However, these attacks are also crimes against the whole community, which loses access to medically trained staff and equipment, put out of use following an incident.”
The MP added: “The Government must acknowledge that the courts are not fully using their current sentencing powers.
“The courts are yet to impose a maximum 12-month sentence, and the Government figures show just a single case received a sentence above six months from over 9,000 convictions in 2019.
“We are not doing enough to protect our emergency workers, and the Government should urgently review the guidelines to understand why the courts are not using the range of sentencing powers available to them.”
The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) reported the first incident took place at a private address in Blyth just before 6pm on Saturday.
Ambulance staff attending to help a man believed to have suffered a drugs overdose were attacked by another man in the same property.
In the second incident just after 7.30pm, an ambulance was called to an unconscious patient on a pavement in South Shields. This man regained consciousness and became verbally aggressive and threatening towards the NEAS crew. He is alleged to have become violent while en-route to hospital.
In the final incident, an advanced technician crew, employed by a private company working on behalf of NEAS, was called to a patient suffering the effects of alcohol in South Hetton, County Durham, at just after 1am on Sunday.
While attending to the patient, the advanced technician was allegedly kicked and punched before retreating from the house.