Knifeman stamped on policeman’s foot as officers tried to detain him

A MAN stamped on a police officer’s foot and kicked out at two others as they tried to put him in a van.

James Morgan, who had been seen pacing up and down the street in Barry with a kitchen knife, shouted and swore at the officers.

Speaking at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Gareth James said he seemed “agitated”. The court heard the incident happened in Everard Street in Barry on February 5.

Prosecutors said a local resident heard noise outside and saw Morgan in a “heated exchange” with someone in the road. She saw him “pacing up and down” with a kitchen knife and recorded a video on her phone before calling the police.

Three officers attended, PS James Thomas, PC Thomas Burr and PC Joshua Rowlands. Mr James said they searched him but did not find anything and let him go. The woman showed them the footage and they found the blade in a front garden.

Prosecutors said the officers located Morgan nearby and went to detain him and he became “verbally aggressive”.

Mr James said Morgan was up against the side of the police van when he “stamped down” on PC Burr’s foot. The incident was caught on police body-worn camera.

Morgan, 46, from Powis View in

Barry, admitted possessing a knife in a public place and three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, in breach of a suspended sentence.

Adam Sharp, defending, said: “He was in a distressed state.”

Judge Daniel Williams jailed Morgan for 12 months and made an order for the knife to be destroyed.