Dealer slashed Nottinghamshire Police officer over the head because he was trying to arrest his brother
A 25-year-old Nottinghamshire man left a police dog handler with a gaping wound to the back of his head when he attacked him in a narrow alleyway. Nottingham Crown Court[1] heard how Mason Perkins walked behind PC Chris Duffy who was trying to arrest the defendant’s brother and then struck him with a weapon before pummelling him as he lay on the ground. The defendant then fled from the scene but was caught by other officers moments later where cannabis and a mobile phone, which showed he was offering to supply class A drugs, were recovered. Jailing him for 11-and-a-half years, Judge Nirmal Shant KC[2] said: “This was plainly a highly dangerous weapon you used on the officer and this has had a profound effect on him.
Not just a physical one but a psychological one. One only has to see the scar across the back of his head to know he sustained a grave injury. “This was a police[3] officer doing his job and you and others need to understand that anyone who attacks a police officer can expect a long prison sentence.”
John Hallissey, prosecuting, said the incident took place in the early hours of March 11, last year. He said earlier the defendant had been ordered to leave the Sunnydale Inn, in Brown Avenue, Mansfield[4] Woodhouse, but he and a group of around seven other people later returned. He said the defendant’s brother was inside the pub and went outside and talked the group into leaving.
The prosecutor said PC Christopher Duffy arrived with his dog and was directed up the street where the brother of Perkins ran and was caught by the dog in a narrow alleyway.
PC Duffy after the attack (Image: Nottinghamshire Police)
Mr Hallissey said: “The defendant walked down the alleyway, he was calm and said ‘excuse me, am I alright to get by?’ and PC Duffy, thinking this was a member of the public wanting to get past, moved himself and the dog and the defendant walked behind him. “He then felt his head jolt forward and he was violently thrown to the floor where he was punched and kicked describing how the defendant was ‘bent over and pummeling’ him. “The officer managed to kick the defendant away and other officers arrived to assist and after a struggle, they managed to arrest the defendant.” The prosecutor said PC Duffy, who attended Friday afternoon’s hearing with his partner, was taken to hospital where a large open wound to the back of his head was discovered.
He said: “He was assessed by Dr Stuart Hamilton, a pathologist who is well-known to the courts. He said the wound was consistent with someone being struck by a heavy object with an edge such as a machete, sword or axe.” Mr Hallissey read out PC Duffy’s victim impact statement.
In it he said: “I have been left with a large scar across the back of my head and I am left to live with that memory. My partner, who is also a police officer, had to tell my parents I had been seriously injured. This incident will have a long-lasting effect on me and my family, I have been left with a permanent scar.”
The defendant, of Moor Street, Mansfield[5] Woodhouse, previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, supplying Class B drugs and offering to supply Class A drugs which arose from his arrest last March. He has four previous convictions for nine offences but this is his first taste of custody. James Walker, mitigating, said his client was “realistic about the length of sentence” he was to receive.
He said: “He says he has no real memory of this owing to the level of intoxication due to drink and drugs.”
References
- ^ Nottingham Crown Court (www.nottinghampost.com)
- ^ Judge Nirmal Shant KC (www.nottinghampost.com)
- ^ police (www.nottinghampost.com)
- ^ Mansfield (www.nottinghampost.com)
- ^ Mansfield (www.nottinghampost.com)