Mansfield man with hepatitis C who spat into cop’s mouth was enraged at ‘crackhead’ slur

Officers were called to The Regent pub in Kirkby just after midnight on February 1 where Ashley Hunt was shouting and swearing, said Catherine Wilson, prosecuting.

He kicked out at the officers and shouted: "I will eat your face off. I will f****** kill you. I will bite your f****** nose off."

Officers restrained 39-year-old Hunt but a spit hood wasn’t applied properly and he managed to spray spittle at three officers, with some of it landing inside one officer’s lip.

They were later told he has hepatitis C and all three had to have several blood tests over the next six months.

Although the risk of contamination was “relatively low” all the officers reported being very worried, Ms Wilson said.

Hunt had to be taken to King’s Mill Hospital after injuring himself while banging his head against the inside of the cage in the police vehicle.

Throughout the incident he shouted racist and homophobic abuse, and was found with a small amount of cannabis.

Hunt also caused £2,246 of damage when he drunkenly and repeatedly slammed a communal door in the address where he lives on July 4.

Donna Pursglove, mitigating, said Hunt deserved full credit for his guilty pleas and accepted the assaults on a reckless basis.

She said he hasn’t used crack cocaine “for a long time” and doesn’t drink “all the time,” but it was clear alcohol was a contributing factor.

He was enraged at being called a crackhead in the pub and that made the situation “snowball,” Ms Pursglove said, adding that the spitting wasn’t intentional.

Hunt, of Sharratt Court, Mansfield, admitted criminal damage, racially aggravated-harassment, assaulting emergency workers, and possessing cannabis, when he previously appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court.

On Tuesday he received a four-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 25 rehabilitation days. He was ordered to pay £450 compensation.