A MAN who spat blood at police officers during a ‘hissy fit’ has been jailed by the Royal Court for one year.

Gary Wheadon (36), of Rue du Panigot, St Peter, had consumed a cocktail of alcohol and anti-depressants before getting behind the wheel of his car on 31 October.

He cut his arm during a car chase on Mont Felard with police in which his front tyre fell off and he narrowly missed crashing into two other vehicles.

Wheadon was arrested for dangerous driving and refusing to take a breathalyser test.

The Court heard that he was taken to hospital where staples were put in his arm. But when he was put in a police cell he started biting into the staples and spitting blood at two police officers who were checking on him through a hatch in the door.

One police officer was hit in the face by Wheadon’s blood and saliva.

Crown Advocate Conrad Yates told the Court that Wheadon blamed the police for his actions when he was interviewed later on.

‘He described it as a “hissy fit” and appeared to blame the officers for leaving the hatch down,’ said Advocate Yates.

‘He kept quoting “You wouldn’t leave the lid off a basket that contained an angry cobra”.’

Wheadon had been arrested two months earlier on 21 August for drink-driving and resisting arrest in Route de l’Aleval, St Peter.

He admitted drink-driving, two counts of resisting arrest, dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen, malicious damage and two counts of assault.

Advocate Yates proposed a prison sentence of 12 months.

‘The defendant has a high risk of reoffending. The drink-driving offences pose a threat to the public,’ he said.

‘The offence was fuelled by intoxication and involved cavalier driving when chased by police officers. It was only through exceptional fortune that no one came to harm that evening.

‘Both officers were acting in the course of their duties. The spitting of blood is an unsavoury sort of assault which brings risk of infection.’

Defence advocate Elizabeth Le Guillou said that Wheadon, who had already served nearly four months in prison, was suffering mental health problems.

‘A further period of incapacity is not a constructive way to help Mr Wheadon,’ she said.

‘The most serious charge is assault, and this particular assault is not violent, although unsavoury.’

Advocate Le Guillou said that Wheadon had turned to drugs as a way of coping with his problems.

‘He did not have an easy childhood,’ she said, and added that his problems only got worse with time. ‘For years he has struggled to come to terms with his mental health issues. These offences are actually a cry for help.

‘His medication was not accurate at the time. Now that it is, it has resulted in massive changes. He reported to me how good it feels to be free from alcohol and drugs.

‘He has shown commitment to helping himself by accepting any help that is on offer.’

Advocate Le Guillou added that no one had been hurt during the car chase – but Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, who was presiding over the case, said that this had been down to luck.

‘These are serious offences,’ he said while delivering the Court’s sentence, which included a 5-year disqualification from driving. ‘The public were put at serious risk of injury or death.

‘While we understand the difficulties in his youth and recent times, we have a duty to protect the public. We also have a duty to protect the police. It was a very unpleasant form of assault, which brought with it the fear of infection.

‘People must know that if they assault the police in any manner in the course of an arrest they will expect to receive additional punishment.’

Commissioner Clyde-Smith was sitting with Jurats de Veulle and Bullen.