A police officer told a court “he’d never seen such aggression” in 15 years on the force, after a group of men including a student studying to join the service attacked a police constable.
A court heard how an officer was thrown to the ground during a mass brawl in Cardiff City Centre.
Defendants Taylor Barnes, Jack Campbell, Joshua Husband and Lewis Russell — all aged 20 or 21 — pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker at Cardiff Magistrates Court this morning.
The fight took place at 4:25am on the 25th of January on Cardiff’s Queen Street. The group of friends from Cardiff had been out celebrating Mr Russell’s 21st birthday.
The court heard how Barnes, Campbell, Husband and Russel were walking along Queen Street when they saw three patrolling emergency officers.
Their behaviour towards the officers became increasingly aggressive, and they began shouting “we pay your taxes” and swearing at them.
Mr Russell became violent towards one of the officers, and the confrontation quickly escalated.
Prosecutor Pete Cowan described the events a brawl, where officers were punched and spat out, many sustaining minor injuries.
Significantly, Mr Husband was reported to have thrown PC Burns to the ground, before being tasered by the police.
It was later revealed in proceedings that Mr Husband is currently in his second year of a professional policing and security degree at the University of South Wales.
Mr Husband’s defence lawyer Mr Peter Harris told the court that Mr Husband had been attempting to defuse the situation, and after incident with PC Burns pleading with officers, “I want to be one of you”.
CCTV footage taken from a Council camera was shown in court of the incident.
Upon being arrested, the court heard that all four defendants were immediately apologetic and remorseful.
In a victim personal statement read out by Mr Cowan, Sergeant Hawksley said that she had “not encountered a situation where all the individuals reacted with an unprecedented level of violence”.
The four men were lifelong friends, had no previous convictions and were previously described as of “good character”.
Presiding magistrate Sian Vaughn described the act as “a brute attack”, said that the men were “equally responsible for what happened that night and the injuries caused to the officers”.
Just after 13:20 all four men were sentenced each to 200 hours of community service and £325 in fines including compensation to the officers that sustained minor injuries.
