80 hours community service for cop assault

1:47pm Thursday 8th May 2008

A former Blustone worker, found guilty of assaulting a police officer, has been sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid work.

Christopher John Morris, of 13 Shoemakers Court, Haverfordwest, was found guilty at a trial earlier this year.

He was arrested at his home on January 2nd 2008. During the arrest an incident ensued which caused one of the arresting officers soreness to his head and neck.

Morris was arrested following a domestic dispute which he had walked away from.

Simon Mumford, defending, said that the call from Morris' estranged wife, that had led to the arrest, was accepted as "absolute fiction".

He said that Morris was in pain from the handcuffs he had been put in and felt that he had been unfairly and wrongly arrested.

He said that the assault had been "very rapid", around 50 seconds, and that his client had sustained a fractured cheekbone during the incident.

Magistrates ordered Morris to pay £200 costs but did not award compensation to the injured officer as they said there was no evidence provided of a long term injury.