West Midlands Police have issued a firm warning to anyone who uses coronavirus as a threat against our officers or members of the public.
It comes after three men were jailed this week for coughing, spitting or threatening to infect people with Covid-19.
On Monday 6th of April, Bevan Burke, was jailed after he spat at a shopkeeper who’d banned him from the store for shoplifting.
Burke stormed into Allen’s Croft Post Office, Northfield, on 3rd of April and spat at the victim shouting “I have corona…you’re going to die” having been told he was barred following a previous shoplifting incident.
Officers identified Burke as the offender and arrested him later that day from his home in Northfield, where they found him hiding in a cupboard.
While being transported to police custody the 22-year-old began coughing and blowing towards officers and again said “I’ve got confirmed coronavirus and now you’ve got it. I hope you and your family die”.
He was jailed for 42 weeks at Birmingham Crown Court having admitted assaulting emergency workers and the shop keeper, plus shoplifting at the convenience store on 10th January.
On the same day, a judge at Warwick Crown Court gave the clearest indication yet that such callous crimes will not be tolerated when he immediately jailed a teenager for six months.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told Thomas Wilson he should be “thoroughly ashamed” of himself after the 19-year-old threatened to spit in a female officer’s face as she detained him over an alleged road rage incident in Coventry.
Officers arrested him at 12.30pm on 31 March in London Road, Coventry, after it’s claimed he spat at a lorry driver and brandished an axe during an altercation in Brinklow Road.
He resisted arrest and suggested he had Covid-19 symptoms before threatening to cough and spit at the officer.
Wilson, from Binley, was charged with possessing an offensive weapon, a public order offence, assault by spitting at the lorry driver, and assaulting an emergency services worker.
Most charges were deferred to be dealt with at a later date but Judge Lockhart jailed Wilson after he admitted the spit threat saying: “It is necessary to…send out a clear message this behaviour is not acceptable.
“The court will not hesitate to support officers as they go about their business to protect others by imposing swift punishment.
“In the front line during this Covid-19 crisis are the emergency services; they deserve, and will have, proper and timely protection from the courts.”
A 54-year-old man was also given a prison sentence on Monday for spitting in the face of a West Midlands Police officer in Birmingham city centre.
Officers attended a petrol station in Corporation Street at 9.45pm on Saturday (4 April) following reports of a drunk man causing problems, pouring fuel on the floor and obstructing traffic.
Anthony Evans, of no fixed address but originally from Atherstone in Warwickshire, tried kicking out at them and as they detained him spat in an officer’s face.
He was jailed for 16 weeks at Birmingham Crown Court.