South Tyneside dad who spat in face of police officer and another man is put behind bars

Ryan Devine, 30, spat directly at a householder who had kicked him in the mouth and broken his tooth in self-defence moments earlier.

Devine, of Durham Court, Hebburn, then repeated the trick with the senior officer who was called to the scene with three colleagues.

During the fracas in Williams Terrace, Hebburn, on Monday, January 14, he also kicked a female officer in the knee and face while being restrained.

And he attempted to headbutt a male PC and kick a WPC in the face, missing both times, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

He has now been put behind bars for a total of 37 weeks, despite claiming as he was led to the cells that he was the victim of police assaults.

Prosecutor Gurjot Kaur said Devine approached the householder and his partner outside their home, saying threateningly, “What do you think you’re going to do?”

His words led the man to kick Devine twice in the stomach and smash a tooth with a punch.

Ms Kaur added: “The defendant has turned around and spat blood directly in his face. The man’s partner called the police.

“Officers arrive and describe the defendant as being intoxicated. He is increasingly aggressive and attempts to headbutt an officer, and other officers take him to the ground.

“He is placed in limb and leg restraints, and they try to get him into a police van.

“While trying to get him into the cage, he turns towards a sergeant and spits directly in his face.

“He then kicked a female officer to her knee and face, and he tried to kick an officer but missed."

Father-of-two Devine pleaded guilty to four charges of assault by beating of an emergency worker and one of assault by beating.

Paul Kennedy, defending, said Devine’s actions against the officers stemmed from previous alleged mistreatment by them.

He claimed his client had been arrested numerous times when no charges had followed.

Mr Kennedy added: “He would say the officers came with a very heavy approach.

“They have turned up with an already formed opinion of how they will deal with him.

“With the civilian, there’s an argument and he has come out of the property and assaulted Mr Devine. His tooth was kicked out.

“He accepts that blood has come out when he has spoken to him. The police turned up and took him down.”

Magistrates jailed Devine for 19 weeks for each of the police assaults, to run concurrently, and to 18 weeks for the fifth assault, to run consecutively.

He was also ordered to pay compensation of £100 to each victim. There were no court costs.

John Lee, chair of the bench, told him: “Your intention was to cause serious harm and disease transmission.

“We have a duty to protect our emergency workers. They have a difficult enough job to do without being assaulted.”