Man punched and kicked officer

A 22-year-old Donington man assaulted a police sergeant who was trying to help him and issued threats against a former friend who owed him just £60, a court has heard.

Damion Whiteley of Bicker Road, Donington admitted assaulting the officer and to harassment when he appeared before District Judge Peter Veits sitting at Boston Magistrates Court.

Prosecuting, Shelley Wilson said that at 5.30am on August 26, police, who were looking for the driver of a car involved in a collision, saw Whiteley wandering along the A16 Spalding Road.

She said the officers, including Sergeant Langham, went to him as it was dark and the road was busy and they feared for his safety as he was wandering into the road and they thought he might have been injured in the collision.

However, he refused to speak to them and punched and kicked Sergeant Langham.

In relation to the harassment, Ms Wilson said that between July 31 and August 27, Whiteley telephoned a former friend William Bingham around 26 times, threatening to ’cause issues’ for him and his family if he didn’t pay back £60 Whiteley said he owed him.

She said that between August 20 and 26, Mr Bingham had 40 missed calls from him, in which he shouted and issued threats of violence, including threatening to burn his house down ‘with you and the kids in it’.

She said that when he was interviewed, he admitted he had been the driver in the collision and had not wanted to be stopped because he was angry, but he had not realised he had punched the police sergeant.

He admitted he had made threats to Mr Bingham but they had been ‘in anger and not serious’.

Roger Lowther, mitigating for Whiteley, said he now realised the police had been trying to help him and that the argument with Mr Bingham had been about just £60.

Judge Veits told Whiteley he ‘should be thankful for the Sergeant who tried to help you and stop you being run over in the middle of the night’ and ordered him to pay him £50 compensation.

He also told him that ‘violence is no way to settle a debt’ and issued a restraining order preventing him from contacting Mr Bingham or going to his home for two years.

He was also ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work for the community and to pay £175 in costs and charges.