Man who spat at and threatened police officers and rail staff is jailed

Callum Rutherford, of Harcourt Road, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, one count of being drunk and disorderly, and a public order offence.

He was sentenced by Preston Magistrates on Thursday, June 1.

The court heard how on Tuesday, May 30, the supervisor at Preston railway station received a call for assistance from a train manager.

He responded and witnessed a drunk Rutherford, 29, shouting aggressively at the manager and threatening him.

The supervisor intervened in an attempt to calm Rutherford down only to then become the subject of the threats himself.

The British Transport Police were called when the supervisor became concerned for his safety after Rutherford made continued threats of violence.

Rutherford was immediately aggressive towards the officers and was subsequently arrested.

As he was being taken to the police van, Rutherford spat at the officers and refused to get in the van. As a result of the ensuing struggle, one of the officers had their hand trapped in the cell door.

Once in custody, Rutherford continued to make vile threats to officers before spitting in the face of another officer who was on watch duty to prevent him from harming himself.

Inspector Pete Wilcock said: “Being drunk or under the influence is no excuse for disgusting behaviour like this. Violence and abuse of our officers and people who work on the rail network will not be tolerated.

“Police officers work tirelessly to serve the community and they and rail staff come to work to ensure people are kept safe.

“I am extremely grateful for the hard work of my team to bring this dangerous offender to justice and for putting themselves in harm’s way. Both officers were back on duty the next day despite suffering injuries and being exposed to potential contamination from saliva.”