Man jailed for ‘vicious’ attack on PC
APOLICE officer needed reconstructive surgery after a “vicious and cowardly” attack which also saw him shot with his own Taser.
The officer had a prolonged period off work and his career remains in the balance after the attack, a court has today heard.
Dyfed-Powys Police officer Dafydd Edwards was working alone in Ceredigion when he was attacked by Darryl Dempsey and Wayne Dobson after he pulled over a car, driven by Dempsey, who was driving while disqualified on February 9.
While speaking to the two men through the driver seat window, the officer leaned in and removed the keys from the ignition.
Both men stepped out of the vehicle, and Dempsey lunged for the officer’s Taser. He managed to take it from him and shot it at the bicep of his arm.
It caused PC Edwards’ legs to go from under him, tearing the cruciate ligments in his left knee. While he was on the ground, Dobson stamped on his knee.
The officer managed to wrestle the stun gun back from one of the attackers and used his spray to try to stop the pair stealing his police vehicle.
They fled the scene in a series of stolen vehicles and went on the run, prompting a major manhunt.
Dobson was arrested on February 12 and Dempsey was arrested in Essex three days later.
Dobson, 29, of Watermill Close, Polegate, East Sussex, who had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting actual bodily harm and the vehicle-taking and criminal damage charges, appeared before Swansea Crown Court for sentencing.
Judge Paul Thomas told him: “You
and your co-defendant Daryl Dempsey were in Wales for reasons that are not entirely convincing. He was driving a car that he was not entitled to drive because he was disqualified.
“When a police officer on his own stopped the vehicle in order to speak to him about it, you both launched a cowardly and vicious attack on him, and he was hurt so bad that his career might have been and might still be in jeopardy...
“This was a sustained, vicious and cowardly attack against a police officer who was doing his job. The police officer had to undergo an operation under anaesthetic for knee reconstruction.”
Dobson was jailed for two years and nine months, of which he will serve half. He has been disqualified from driving.
Dempsey, 24, of Brading Close, Eastbourne, East Sussex, had previously been deemed unfit to enter pleas to charges of making use of a firearm with intent to prevent arrest, inflicting actual bodily harm, driving while disqualified, the aggravated taking of three vehicles, and criminal damage. Instead a “trial of fact” was held in his absence.
He was found to have committed the alleged acts by a jury and will be sentenced at a later date.