Northampton man, 46, jailed for a year after spitting at police officer

Magistrates jailed a 46-year-old Northampton man after convicting him of assaulting a police officer in the town.

Amit Praful Hindocha, of Collingwood Road, allegedly spat at one constable after being arrested, kicked another and also made racist comments during an incident in June 2021.

He was found guilty of assault by beating and racially aggravated use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at a summary trial in November and sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison at Wellingborough court on January 10.

Magistrates ruled the assault so serious “because of a deliberate attack on a public servant carrying out public duties”.

Latest government figures revealed there were just over 41,000 assaults on police in England and Wales In the year ending March 2022 of which 29,491 were crimes of “assault without injury on a constable” — an increase of 11 percent compared with 26,539 in the previous year.

In Northamptonshire, there were 620 incidents of assaults on constables Northamptonshire, 170 of them resulting in officers suffering injuries.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley has previously voiced concerns over assaults on officers and promoted a zero tolerance policy.

Chief Inspector Pete Basham, said: “No one comes to work to be assaulted and this applies to police officers as much as it applies to anyone else.

“Being assaulted will never be seen as ‘part of the job’ and we will pursue anyone who lays a finger on any of our officers in this force.”