A female police officer has been
awarded £1,000 compensation from a criminal who spat at her when she was trying
to restrain him.
PC Sarah Botham feared she could
have caught hepatitis from the spittle of unemployed father of two Lee Birtles,
but tests later proved negative.
Her compensation award is the
maximum allowed by law - and even the local Police Federation described the
penalty as 'quite astonishing'.
Birtles narrowly avoided prison at Barnsley Magistrates' Court in South Yorkshire after he admitted assaulting Ms Botham.
The officer worried that she may
have contracted hepatitis after swallowing some of the defendant's spittle
during the incident.
Birtles had been arrested for
breaching the peace and officers were trying to prevent him harming himself at
Barnsley police station.
Matthew Shepherd, defending, said
the risk of Ms Botham catching hepatitis was 'remote', and Birtles was sorry
for his actions.
Presiding magistrate Carole Howard
said Birtles had come close to being jailed, and added that she had been
'distressed' to hear about his behaviour.
As well as paying £1,000
compensation, Birtles was given a six-month curfew, ordered to pay £85 costs
and a £60 victim surcharge.
After the hearing Neil Bowles, chairman of the South Yorkshire Police Federation said: 'The payout is quite astonishing.
'But punishments like this are an
essential deterrent to assaults on officers in any manner let alone a vile
offence like this. The officer also had to await test results.'
He later added: 'My initial reaction
upon hearing the news of the size of the compensation award was surprise, but
pleasantly so.
'We in the Police Federation have
been calling for stiffer penalties for those convicted of assaulting police
officers for as long as I can remember.'
Mr Bowles concluded: 'We applaud
that decision and hope that courts across the county and the rest of England and
Wales follow suit.'
Birtles said afterwards he had no
expected to pay so much compensation and claimed he had not intended to spit at
the officer.
He said he had been pepper-sprayed
as he was being restrained. 'I was spitting to get it out of my mouth as I was
handcuffed and my eyes were pretty much glued together,' he insisted.
'I have apologised and I'm glad I
didn't get a jail sentence but the amount of compensation is high.'
Dailymail.co.uk
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