A Fife man who coughed on a police officer, threatened to bite him and told him he hoped he contracted Covid-19 has been jailed for a year.
David Winning, 40, a prisoner at Perth, also managed to wriggle out of a spit hood and spit in the face of another officer during an incident in Burntisland on September 7.
Two officers initially spotted Winning unsteady on his feet and bleeding from the hand in the town’s Dick Crescent.
While the officers tried to help him, Winning suddenly became argumentative and went on to assault both officers.
Fiscal Ronnie Hay told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court how the officers had approached Winning and told him they were trained in first aid.
However, heroin addict Winning told PC James Harvey he would “bite his nose off” and then coughed in his face, telling him: “I hope you get the virus.”
Two other officers arrived and PC Gordon Jamieson began to administer first aid to Winning, who threatened to spit on him.
Officers put a spit hood on him but he managed to get out of it, spat in Mr Jamieson’s face and then attempted to bite Mr Harvey on the forearm.
Defence solicitor David Cranston said: “He took two or three of tablets with a tin of lager and then can remember nothing.
“He’s pretty sure what he took on that date wasn’t what he thought it was.”
Mr Cranston added his client had effectively lost two days of life and had woken up in hospital, having been asleep for more than 18 hours.
Winning pled guilty to two charges on indictment.
