A former airport security officer who admitted assaulting three police officers has walked free from court with a suspended sentence.
Jack Hutchinson drunkenly lashed out as he tried to resist arrest, punching one officer, trying to bite another and kicking a third.
Deemster Graeme Cook described Jack Hutchinson’s as ‘deplorable’ but ‘out of character’.
Hutchinson, 29, formerly of Albany Street, Douglas, had previously admitted resisting arrest, breaching a domestic abuse order, property damage, threatening and abusive behaviour, being drunk and disorderly and three counts of assaulting a police officer.
The Court of General Gaol Delivery heard that police received a 999 call reporting an incident at an address in Anagh Coar at just after 1.20am on May 9 this year.
Neighbours reported a man and woman shouting and screaming, during a row outside a property, lasting around 45 minutes.
The defendant ran away and hid in a bush. A short time later, police received a second 999 call, from a man at a nearby property. He said that he had heard shouting outside and saw Hutchinson kicking over bins.
He went out and asked him to pick up the bins, however, this prompted Hutchinson to make abusive comments and physically threaten him.
The man said Hutchinson then started approaching his door so he went back inside, but could hear him shouting and making threats to beat him up.
Police found the defendant on a grass footpath nearby and he then tried to barge past an officer, saying: ‘Don’t come anywhere near me.’
Officers tried to put handcuffs on him but he threw himself onto the ground, shouting: ‘I’m not going to make this easy for you.’
Hutchinson continued to be aggressive, kicking out at police, laughing and tensing his arms. He then punched a female officer in the eye and tried to bite another officer on the leg.
Officers used Pava spray to try to restrain him, but this still didn’t stop him and he then kicked backwards twice, catching an officer on the arm.
Further officers were called to assist as Hutchinson continued kicking out and swearing at them.
He was eventually put in leg restraints and handcuffs.
However, once at police headquarters, Hutchinson defecated on a bed in a cell, then put a plastic cup down a toilet, causing it to flood, so he had to be moved to a different cell.
When interviewed, he said he had started drinking at 2pm after buying drinks at the Co-op and then remembered going to O’Donnell’s pub, but the next thing he recalled was waking up in a police cell. He told police he had drunk an amount that would ‘normally kill someone’.
Defence advocate Casey Houareau described her client as a ‘gentle giant’ who had experienced significant difficulties in his life.
She said the five months he had spent on remand in custody had been the longest he had gone without alcohol since he was the age of 12 and he now wanted to stay sober, recognising that if he allowed drink back in his life he would risk appearing before court again.
She said her client had previously worked in security at the airport but had now lost his profession.
Deemster Cook said he believed the public would best be served by handing down a suspended a sentence.
He sentenced Hutchinson to a total of nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months with an 18 month supervision order. He also banned him from buying or consuming alcohol from on or off-licence premises for a period of 12 months.