He shouted and screamed on the way to police station
An aggressive young troublemaker turned nasty when police turned up to investigate after reports of a disturbance – and he angrily called a female officer “an ugly little rat” before spitting at her and a male officer. Heavy-drinking cannabis user Lennon Varney had been downing whisky before the bad-tempered confrontation and he shouted and screamed abuse after being put into a police van.
He continued his “appalling” antics at a police station and punched a female custody officer, knocking her out of the cell and causing her to land on her face, Hull Crown Court heard. Varney, 21, of Oakington Garth, Bransholme, Hull, admitted four offences of assaulting emergency workers, including three police officers and a custody officer, on September 26.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that police were called to Bodmin Road, Bransholme, at about 7am after reports that Varney was intoxicated and was causing problems. He was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car but he did not have the keys.
Varney was slurring his words and his eyes were dilated. He was polite at first but he then became abusive and called a female police officer “an ugly little rat”. He started to spit at her and was told not to do so.
He persisted and asked her: “What are you going to do about it?” before continuing to spit, with some of it hitting a male officer in the face. “He had to be forcibly removed from the vehicle,” said Mr Welch.
Varney was handcuffed and he was put into a police van. “During the journey to the police station, he shouted, screamed and made threats to the officers,” said Mr Welch.
“Other officers had to be warned at Clough Road police station to assist in the extraction of the defendant from the van.” As Varney got out of the van, he kicked the door hard and it knocked into another male officer, who was badly winded.
When Varney was in his cell, a female custody officer tried to carry out medical checks on him but he threw a cup of water over her and later punched her in the face with a clenched fist, causing pain, swelling and redness.
This knocked her out of the cell and she landed on her face, the court heard. She had to go to hospital and she had been left with a sense of fear and vulnerability.
Her confidence in the job had been massively affected. During police interview, Varney said that he used cannabis every day but he blamed his behaviour on heavy drinking, including five to 10 mini bottles of whisky.
He admitted that he “needed to sort his head out”. He had a previous conviction in March this year for driving while unfit through drugs and he had been fined £120 and banned from driving for one year.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that it was very serious offending against emergency workers, who were just doing their job. It had been a stressful time for Varney but he had taken steps in the right direction to tackle his issues. He was on benefit but he was aiming to find work.
Recorder Shufkat Khan said that it was “appalling behaviour” by Varney. “You are the first to acknowledge and understand how appalling your behaviour was towards the officers, who were there simply to try t assist you,” said Recorder Khan.
Varney was given a four-month suspended prison sentence, 15 days’ rehabilitation and a 60-day alcohol abstinence monitoring order.