Last updated at 10:03, Friday, 05 October 2012

A former soldier who beat up a policeman in broad daylight after being asked to move his car off the pavement has been jailed for more than two years.

Gary White, of Carlisle: Pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm (to police officer) and was jailed for 27 months

Gary Roy White, 42, was working as a delivery driver for a pizza shop in Botchergate, Carlisle, when he launched the savage attack on PC Gerard ‘Mac’ Maguire on August 27.

He punched the officer 16 times to his head and upper body, then kicked him about six times - the last kick lifting him bodily off the pavement. Two colleagues who came to help described it later as the worst attack on a police officer they had ever seen.

At the city’s Crown Court, White, of Scalegate Road, Upperby, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.

The judge, the Honorary Recorder of Carlisle, Paul Batty QC, told the shaven-haired family man the attack was so violent he could have been facing a murder charge.

Prosecutor Becky McGregor told the court the incident started at about 7pm when PC Maguire asked White to move the car he had left parked on the pavement in Botchergate outside the pizza shop where he worked.

White quickly became abusive and then aggressive, demanding that the officer should arrest the driver of another car, also parked on the pavement nearby.

Fearing further trouble, PC Maguire went to arrest him but White responded by repeatedly punching the officer as he was pinned against a wall.

The attack – caught on a CCTV film shown twice in court – continued until PC Maguire was left face down on the pavement, dripping blood from his face and trying in vain to use his radio to call for help.

Ms McGregor described how members of the public went to the officer’s aid, with one – Donovan Watson - “bravely” putting himself between the stricken officer and his attacker. White told another witness, Liam Diss, who also went to help: “He deserved it. He tried to stop me.”

PC Maguire then managed to drag himself to his feet and was able to arrest White as his colleagues arrived.

The officer was left with bumps and bruises all over his face and head and suffered a suspected perforated eardrum. He was off work for five weeks, returning only on Wednesday of this week.

In a victim impact statement to the court he said he had been badly affected by the attack, fearing he might have been blinded in one eye. It has affected his sleep and he has difficulty walking.

In mitigation, defence advocate Patrick Shimmin said White was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the horrific sights he had seen during his army service.

He had been at Omagh at the time of the IRA bombing that killed 29 people in 1998 and this had had a severe effect on him, he said. Even so, Mr Shimmin said, it was a mystery why White had behaved in the way he had.

“It is completely perplexing and baffling as to why a 42-year-old man, when sober and in broad daylight, should – when speaking to a police officer about a minor parking matter – snap and completely over-react in this fashion. Even he describes his behaviour as outrageous.”

Judge Batty said there could be no excuse for a police officer being attacked in such a “truly shocking” way while doing his duty. “You could have been facing a murder charge – I hope you understand that,” he told him.

The judge said White would have gone to prison for longer had it not been for his army service, which he described as his “most important mitigation.” As it was he jailed White for 27 months.

The judge gave a £200 reward to Mr Watson who, he said, deserved the “highest of praise” for the way he intervened.

After the hearing, Superintendent Sean Robinson said: “White’s sustained and unprovoked assault on PC Maguire was the most vicious attack I have seen on a police officer in my 22 year policing career.

“PC Maguire ... has been a police officer for 19 years and before this incident, PC Maguire had not taken a day off sick in 16 years. He has always maintained high standards and commitment to the people of Cumbria and we are supporting him as he returns back to work this week.

“I am pleased that White has received the sentence he deserves.”

First published at 10:00, Friday, 05 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk