Calls grow for tougher sentences for those who assault officers
20 February 2026
The brutal assault of a West Mercia Police officer and the latest Police Covenant annual report together paint a stark picture of the daily risks officers face.
Lesley Williams, secretary of West Mercia Police Federation, has expressed her growing concern that sentences handed down to those who attack them are failing to reflect the severity of these crimes.
Her comments come as two offenders, Richard Quinn, 49, and Alex Quinn, 20, were sentenced today (Friday 20 February) for assault causing grievous bodily harm to PC Ryan Davis and for the assault of a member of the public.
Richard Quinn, of Bridge Street, Hereford, was sentenced to four years and three months. Alex Quinn, of the same address, was sentenced to three years and ten months at a young offenders' institute.
“I thought I was going to die,” said 34-year-old Ryan, who knows all too well how quickly a routine shift can become life-changing.
The response officer was working on Good Friday 2024 as part of a plainclothes operation focused on protecting women and girls when he and colleagues intervened in a violent altercation.
What followed was a sustained and vicious attack that left him with a dislocated and broken ankle, a fractured lower leg, multiple facial fractures, and damage to his eye. Even after being forced to the ground and physically disabled, he said the assault continued.
The attack marked what he describes as ‘the day that my life changed forever’. Months of recovery followed, including multiple surgeries, ongoing physiotherapy and long-term mental health support. He has since been diagnosed with PTSD and continues to live with chronic pain.
Recovery
While he has returned to work, it has been in a desk-based role as he continues to recover. For a community-focused officer, that adjustment has been particularly difficult.
He said: “Being on a desk has been mentally draining. I want to be out helping people again, doing it to the best of my ability. I’m desperate to get back out on the front line again. To be honest, I don’t know if I have a future in policing if that’s not possible.”
While an element of justice has been delivered, Davis says the sentence has done little to ease the impact of the past 21 months.
His recovery has been supported by colleagues, charities and welfare services, from rehabilitation retreats to physiotherapy sessions and peer support. But the long-term effects remain.
The case has also reignited calls from police representatives for tougher sentencing, with concerns that the penalties handed down do not always reflect the brutality of such attacks or their lasting consequences.
Branch secretary Lesley said assaults on officers must never be dismissed as ‘part of the job’ and argued that stronger use of sentencing powers is needed to send a clear message that violence against police will not be tolerated.
Police Covenant
Those concerns are echoed in the latest Police Covenant annual report, which sets out the Government’s commitment to ensuring that members of the police workforce ‘suffer no detriment’ as a result of their role. But the report’s findings have also underscored the scale of the challenge facing officers.
Figures within the report show that approximately 115 police officers and staff across England and Wales are attacked every single day.
Describing the situation as unprecedented, Lesley warned that the level of violence should be treated as a national emergency. Officers are regularly going home injured, both physically and psychologically, and there are fears that continued exposure to violence is ‘becoming normalised’.
There is also growing concern that the tone set by public discourse and the criminal justice system influences how seriously these offences are viewed.
Justice system
Federation leaders say that meaningful action is needed to demonstrate that the Government stands firmly behind officers, particularly when it comes to addressing the number of assaults and ensuring that courts use their full sentencing powers.
For Ryan, the human cost of violence against officers is impossible to quantify. His life, career and health were all permanently altered in a matter of moments.
His experience now stands as a powerful reminder of the reality behind the numbers in the Police Covenant report.
Lesley ended: “This is not just about statistics, policy or funding - it is about individuals who risk their safety to protect the public and the lasting consequences when they are attacked.
“The message is clear: violence against officers should never be accepted, excused or minimised, and those responsible must face consequences that reflect the true gravity of their actions.”
READ MORE: MP backs Federation's concerns over policing reforms.
