The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The chairman of Lincolnshire Police Federation has blasted the “absurdly lenient sentence” given to a man who avoided jail after leaving a Spalding officer disfigured.
Jon Hassall says the victim’s young children were initially frightened by their dad’s appearance as a result of the attack and is calling for increased sentences for assaults on emergency service personnel.
The incident happened when the policeman attended reports of a domestic abuse incident.
The officer suffered a broken tooth that needed expensive dental work to correct and an injured nose.
Stewart Alexander Budworth (44), of Willesby Road, Spalding, pleaded guilty to the charge of assault which occurred at Coronation Close, Spalding, on August 8.
At Boston Magistrates’ Court on November 6, he was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation and £85 costs.
He will also have to take part in a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and attend appointments for 25 days.
Mr Hassall said: “What the photo (of the officer’s blood-stained jacket) does not convey is the impact on the officer’s family when he goes home having to explain why his nose is damaged and he’s had a tooth knocked out.
“It doesn’t explain why he had over a week off sick; why he had extensive dental surgery costing over £1,200.
“The officer has told me that his young children were actually frightened by his appearance when he got home.
“That is why the guilty man should be serving a custodial sentence – not enjoying his liberty after an absurdly lenient suspended sentence.
“That is why the Police Federation of England and Wales have been lobbying government to ‘Protect the Protectors’, lobbying that does appear to have been listened to as MP Chris Bryant’s Private Members Bill (Assaults on Emergency Workers [Offences] Bill) works its way through Parliament and hopefully onto the statute books.”
