Thug, 36, is jailed for 20 weeks after spitting at police officers while claiming to have COVID-19

A thug has been jailed for biting and spitting at two police officers as another has been locked up for coughing in a policeman’s face amid the coronavirus crisis.

Marc Olley, 36, from Grimsby, was jailed for 20 weeks after angrily biting and spitting at two officers before saying he had coronavirus.

It follows Alex Wood, 37, from Bridge End, Dorchester-upon-Thames, deliberately coughing in a police officer’s face after hitting a woman over the head with a can.

Olley menacingly told officers: ‘If your face was down here, I would spit right in your face.’

He admitted two offences of assaulting on-duty emergency police on March 28.

Humberside police went to a domestic disturbance between Olley and his ex-girlfriend at 9am. Olley was dragged to the ground because of his behaviour but was aggressive and made threats.

He bit their fingers and claimed he had Covid-19 and said they should check their records. He spat at both police but missed them. They requested a spit guard but, while waiting for it, Olley claimed he had coronavirus. 

Olley said he was ‘appalled and disgusted with himself’ and was jailed for 20 weeks.

Presiding magistrate Joe Howe told Olley: ‘Spitting, even in normal circumstances, is one of the most despicable and demeaning things that one human being can do to another.

‘To spit at police officers – they are there doing their job of work. They are trying to protect us all. They are not there as targets and victims for people who are dissatisfied.’

He said he made the comments because he was in custody on an isolation wing the night before and was worried he might have picked up something.

Olley claimed he was assaulted by his girlfriend. He had a face wound after the disturbance.

It follows an ‘abhorrent’ man being jailed for attacking a woman with a can and coughing in a police officer’s face.  

Wood grabbed a woman by the chest and hit her over the head with a can with enough force to leave a lump.

Wood coughed in the face of the arresting officer who was wearing a protective face mask. It was claimed that, when questioned, he said a mask ‘would not stop anything’.

Wood was charged at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday March 24 and convicted the next day.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault by beating, one count of assaulting an emergency worker and one count of criminal damage to property.

Wood was jailed for 10 weeks for assaulting an emergency worker and 12 weeks for assault by beating, a total of 22 weeks. A further four weeks were added for criminal damage, but to run concurrently.

Thames Valley police federation chairman Craig O’Leary said: ‘This custodial sentence is welcomed as there is no place for behaviour such as this.

‘Wood had assaulted a woman and then by his actions and words, deliberately coughed at the arresting officer. Coughing on an officer deliberately in the current climate is completely unacceptable.

‘Our officer maintained his professionalism and was wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment. 

‘However the behaviour of Wood was absolutely abhorrent and I am pleased that the courts saw the seriousness of all these offices and gave him an immediate custodial sentence.’

It comes amid a spate of ‘coronavirus’ attacks on emergency workers across Britain during the lockdown in which frontline staff have been victims of abuse and even muggings.