Man jailed for attack on police officers

16 January 2019

Police Federation chair Dave Stokes has welcomed a judge’s decision to jail a man who tried to throw a Leicestershire police officer from a third floor balcony for 11 months.

Aaron Edward Naylor (29) of St Peters Court, Sacriston, County Durham pleaded guilty to three counts of assault, two of which were against officers.

Yesterday at Leicester Magistrates’ Court, he was sentenced to 48 weeks’ imprisonment - 36 weeks for the officer assaults and a further 12 weeks for an unrelated incident in August 2018 for which he had previously been given a suspended sentence.

Dave said afterwards: “I welcome the custodial sentence, in my opinion it sends a clear, consistent message. The Crown Prosecution Service, the courts, our Chief Constable and the Police Federation will not tolerate emergency services workers being assaulted and those who carry out these attacks will feel the full weight of the law.

“Police officers have the training and skills to deal with conflict and I am proud that my colleagues used their training to successfully make the arrest without serious injury to themselves. However, what’s positive here is that, even though the officers weren’t seriously injured, thankfully, the actions of the offender have clearly been a factor in the sentencing.”

Naylor was also sentenced to four weeks for the third count of assault to run concurrently and ordered to pay £400 in compensation. The three counts relate to an incident which happened in the early hours of the morning on Boxing Day (26 December 2018).

Two officers were responding to a report of an assault at an address in Churchill Close, Oadby.

After witnessing Naylor assaulting the occupant of the address, the two officers attempted to restrain him to prevent further injury. Naylor then charged towards them and grabbed one of the officers, pushing him towards the edge of the flat’s balcony.

The officer was hanging over the railings but was saved by his colleague who managed to grab Naylor from behind and pull them both to safety.

He continued to resist arrest, attempting to bite and kick the other officer at the scene. He was subsequently restrained and arrested.

Chief Constable Simon Cole said: “These officers were going about their daily duties, protecting the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It is thanks to the fast actions of one of the officers that this incident didn’t have a very different and tragic ending and for that I am extremely grateful.

“Any level of violence against officers, or any emergency service worker, is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The Force takes assaults of this nature very seriously and will work closely with the courts to bring those responsible to justice.”

In November, the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act came into effect, introducing tougher sentences for those who attack police and other blue light workers, following the Police Federation’s national Protect the Protectors campaign.