Army veteran ‘lifted policeman by his nostrils’ in roadside brawl

A DRINK-DRIVER lifted a police sergeant by his nostrils after being pulled over, a court has heard.

David Bull, 37, is alleged to have used “savage levels of violence” against two officers in Tavistock, Devon.

The 17-stone former soldier stuck his fingers in the nostrils of a male sergeant and kicked a female constable in the knee, Plymouth Crown Court has heard.

Prosecutor Nick Lewin said that two officers stopped Bull and his friend, Alex Irving, in a Citroen around midnight because the car headlights were off. PC Jenny Mashford suspected that Bull had been drinking and escorted him back to the police car to conduct a breathalyser test. The defendant, from Bedfordshire, tested more than twice the drink-drive limit.

Mr Lewin told the jury: “There was thereafter, you will hear, quite savage levels of violence meted out to Sgt [David] Clarke,” who had gone to assist the other officer.

The court heard Sgt Clarke was put in a headlock and left with the “insides of his nose detached from the outsides”.

Sgt Clarke said: “We ended up on the floor and we basically had a fight. He

‘He wrenched my head back with a lot of force and with his thumb he tried to gouge my eye’

put me in a choking headlock and I received a number of blows to the body.

“Bull shoved two fingers up my nose and wrenched my head back with a lot of force and with his thumb he tried to gouge my eye. It was excruciating and I screamed in pain as well as anger.”

He had to use his Taser several times but the 6ft 4in army veteran seemed “impervious to pain”, the officer added.

Mr Lewin went on to explain how Bull then lashed out at PC Mashford, who tried to intervene before she dislocated her knee.

In an emotional address, she told the court how her joint was dislocated at a 90-degree angle, which required a year of physiotherapy to heal. The officer cried as she recalled the “terrifying incident”, saying “I am sorry, it is reliving it all again. I am sorry.”

Bull, who accepts he was over the drink limit, said he was out with Mr Irving drinking at a Wetherspoon’s pub in Tavistock.

He took the stand to say how he had suffered from blackouts since leaving the Armed Forces in 2013 after being court-martialed for an assault.

Bull, who faces four charges overall, has admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Sgt Clarke, but denies a charge of intending to do so.

He also pleaded not guilty to assaulting PC Mashford, with or without intent.

The trial continues.