Derry Court: Man jailed for spitting into police officer's eye

District Judge Barney McElholm has said that anyone who spits at a public servant like a police officer or ambulance worker can't expect anything 'other than a custodial sentence'.

His comments came in as he jailed Robert Crossan (47) of Altcar Park in Derry who admitted assaulting police and resisting police on December 27 last.

The court heard that police were responding to a request for assistance.

They attended and spoke to Crossan who 'began to be aggressive' and then spat into an officer's eye.

He also resisted police by lashing out with his legs when they were trying to arrest him.

The court heard that Crossan also threatened to spit again but didn't.

A prosecution barrister said that the defendant had 112 previous convictions.

Defence counsel Eoghan Devlin said that his client had gone for periods of time where he had not offended.

He said that the years of offending seemed to be behind the defendant.

Judge McElholm said that if it had been a kick or a punch that did no real damage he would have taken a certain attitude.

But he said 'to spit at another human being is something that won't be tolerated'.

He sentenced Crossan to three months in prison.