Prison for drunk who spat ‘mouthful of phlegm’ into cop's face and lied about having TB

Mansfield Magistrates court, Rosemary Street.

Police officers found Lewys Henfrey collapsed on a driveway on Sherwood Road on March 19, but he became uncooperative and repeatedly told them to f*** off.

Magistrates in Mansfield heard he was "slurring his words and making little sense" when he leaned forward to spit on an officer's shoe and kicked him in the left leg.

The 28-year-old was taken to King's Mill Hospital where he became “argumentative and foul-mouthed” when a new officer took over.

He got up from the hospital bed and squared up to the officer before spitting "a mouthful of phlegm" into his face.

He taunted the officer by claiming his former partner was dying from TB and "seemed to take pleasure from what he had done and the threat”.

The officer apologised to the medical staff who overheard Henfrey’s tirade of homophobic abuse.

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In a statement the officer said he “expects a certain level of abuse from members of the public” but on this occasion Henfrey “overstepped the mark”.

He worried about the prospect of passing the disease on to his young family for weeks afterwards.

Henfrey has three previous convictions and received an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, for failing to provide a breath sample, in April last year.

Ian Pridham, mitigating, said Henfrey, who is single, unemployed and lives with his mother, accepts he is an alcoholic.

Henfrey previously sustained a serious injury when he slipped and cracked his head on a work surface, Mr Pridham said. He kicked out while he was screaming at the officers not to bang his head.

“He obviously sustained a further head injury and was taken to hospital,” Mr Pridham added. “He hasn't got TB, or any transmissible disease, and was seeking to provoke a reaction. There is no excuse for it.”

Henfrey, of Town End Drive, Belle Vue, Doncaster, admitted assaulting emergency workers and drunk and disorderly behaviour, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

The suspended sentence was activated and he was jailed for a total of ten weeks.