The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A Gosberton man arrested on a drink driving charge, on the same day after his release from custody, headbutted a police officer who was removing him from a takeaway where he had been offending the female staff.
Matthew Sansam, 41, of Rutland Gardens admitted driving with excess alcohol, assaulting a police officer
by beating and being drunk and disorderly when he appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting, Marie Stace said Sansam was arrested following a positive breath test at the scene of a road
traffic collision in Scoldhall Lane, Spalding at 10am on November 6 when he admitted he had been
plugging his phone into the charger when he ran into the back of a car in front waiting to turn right.
She said he later gave a reading of 43 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, the legal limit being 35.
She said that later that day, at 8.30pm, he was drunk and went into the KFC takeaway in Market Place,
Boston and police were called after he made offensive comments to the female staff and tried to hold
hands with two of them.
She said that he refused to leave when police asked him to and that eventually an officer had to lead him
out, but he headbutted the officer and members of the public had to help him to get him Sansam onto the
ground so he could be handcuffed.
Ms Stace added that Sansam had been banned from driving for two years in August 2018 for an excess
alcohol offence.
Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said that ‘clearly November 6 was a day he would love to forget’.
She said he was seeking help with his alcohol and mental health issues and was paying privately for
counselling, adding that he had written a letter of apology to the police officer and that he was ‘well
respected at work’ and would keep his job.
She said he had been working a night shift and had had a drink before going home for sleep, hence the
excess alcohol in his system at 10 in the morning.
The magistrates said he was ‘clearly remorseful’ but that thankfully there had been no serious injury to the
police officer.
Sansam was fined £641 for the assault and ordered to pay the officer £100 in compensation.
For the excess alcohol offence, he was banned from driving for three years but was offered the drink
drivers’ rehabilitation course, which will reduce the period of the ban by nine months, and was fined £550.
He was also ordered to pay a total of £149 in court costs and charges.
