Harrogate man avoids jail after breaking police officer's nose and cheekbone

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Joel Rushton, 37, was resisting arrest when he struck one of the officers with ‘one mighty blow after another’, York Crown Court heard.

The male officer received specialist hospital treatment for facial fractures and suffered from the physical and mental effects of the incident which took place on January 3, said prosecutor James Howard.

The policeman, named in court, had gone to Rushton’s address to arrest him for his behaviour towards his ex-partner who had been bombarded with nasty phone calls and threatened with her life, added Mr Howard.

Six months after breaking up with Rushton, she received a barrage of threatening phone calls from Rushton who told her: “I’m going to smash your head in; I’m going to kill you. I’m going to find you. I’m going to your mum’s to put my foot through the door. I want you dead.”

She hung up but he called back repeatedly, whereupon she called the police.

The named victim - whose fraught relationship with Rushton ended in June last year - was so frightened of what he might do to her that she sought refuge at Harrogate Police Station.

When police turned up at Rushton’s home, he refused to be put in handcuffs and turned so violent that officers had to use pepper spray in an attempt to subdue him, amid screams from Rushton’s “highly-agitated” new girlfriend who was also sprayed accidentally.

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Rushton “made a beeline” for one of the officers who was punched repeatedly in the face. The scuffle spilled out onto the street where Rushton grabbed one of the officer’s batons.

The injured officer had an X-ray six days later which showed he had fractures to his nose and cheekbone. He also suffered nasal bleeding.

Rushton, of Grove Park Lane, appeared for sentence after ultimately pleading guilty to assaulting the officer occasioning actual bodily harm and making threatening phone calls to his ex-partner - an offence under the Malicious Communications Act.

In a victim-impact statement, Rushton’s ex-girlfriend said she had been left feeling “anxious and distressed” which had resulted in her leaving the job she loved. The officer who was seriously injured at Rushton’s home said he had suffered from depression, sleep problems and physical pain since the attack. He was put on restricted duties for weeks following the attack and even feared to leave his house.

The court heard that Rushton, a father-of-four, had two previous convictions for three offences including public disorder.

Defence barrister Keith Allen said that Rushton, who worked as a fireplace installer, “lost emotional control” on the day in question while in a “primal state” born of “extreme anger”. He had behaved “completely out of character” when the officers came to arrest him and had since received cognitive therapy from a mental-health nurse.

Recorder Margia Mostafa branded Rushton’s behaviour towards his ex-partner “disgraceful”, particularly his threats to kill her.

She noted, however, the “glowing” character references including one from Rushton’s employer, which “could not be further from the man that assaulted police and behaved in a dreadful fashion towards his former partner”.

Rushton’s 22-month jail sentence was suspended for two years but Ms Mostafa said he had “come close” to going straight to prison “because assaults against police officers are not acceptable”.

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Rushton was also handed a 12-month restraining order banning him from contacting or approaching his ex-partner. He was also placed on a nine-month, nightly curfew and ordered to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work.

In addition, Rushton was ordered to complete a 25-day rehabilitation programme and pay £1,500 compensation to the injured police officer.