Magistrates jail thug jailed for prolonged, serious assault on Northampton police officer

An ‘abhorrent’ thug has been jailed for punching a Northampton police officer and attempting to gouge his eyes in a shocking attack.

Northampton magistrates sent Thomas Douglas David Coates to prison for a total of 28 weeks after hearing how he also threw a mobile phone, hitting the officer in the head and breaking his glasses, and then turned the constable’s PAVA incapacitant spray on him.

The attack on April 16 came after officers tracked down Coates in Cotswold Avenue, Duston, as a suspect following reports of domestic-related assaults.

He threw his phone through an open window of the vehicle following him before leaning in and beginning punching the officer.

Coates, aged 34, later threw a drink over another officer while in custody — leading to a further charge of assaulting an emergency worker.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesperson said: “None of our officers come to work to be assaulted. It’s not ‘part of the job’ and will never be.

“That’s why we take a zero-tolerance approach when assaults take place and will always, without exception, pursue criminal action against offenders.

“Coates’ behaviour that day was abhorrent. We’re pleased he will be spending some time in prison and hope this sends a message to anyone else thinking it is acceptable to assault a police officer.”

Coates, of Delta Way, Kingsthorpe, was jailed for 26 weeks for what magistrates called “a prolonged, serious assault on a police officer in the execution of his duty” and a two weeks for a second assault on a police sergeant.

He also admitted criminal damage and two common assaults at a hearing on April 18 and was sentenced on May 18 — when magistrates also ordered him to pay £370 compensation plus £241 towards prosecution costs and a surcharge to fund victim services.

Latest Home Office figures showed Home Office showed assaults on police in Northamptonshire hit a four-year high during the Covid pandemic with 605 attacks recorded between April 2020 and March 2021.

Of those, 141 resulted in officers suffering injuries.

The figures also showed 78 attacks recorded on emergency workers, other than police officers, in Northamptonshire.