Teen who spat at PC ordered to pay compensation

18-year-old told 'it's not an acceptable thing to do'

A Port St Mary teenager has been ordered to pay £100 compensation to a police officer he spat at.

Lee Jake Sheppard, of St Marys Avenue, assaulted the PC during Castletown Carnival on 6 August.

The 18-year-old was socialising with a group of friends when one of them became involved in a dispute with the officers and had to be ‘pepper sprayed’.

Sheppard tried to intervene and began shouting and swearing before ripping flowers from a nearby flowerbed.

He was taken away from the area but continued being abusive. 

As attempts were made to arrest him he spat at the officer; something the court accepted was ‘reckless’.  

Sheppard later admitted being drunk and disorderly and assaulting the police officer – during sentencing at Douglas Courthouse his advocate said he’d initially been the ‘peacemaker’.

After becoming distressed about what was happening to his friend, in Market Square, Sheppard’s advocate concluded: “His frustration boiled over.”

Ordering Sheppard to undertake six months of probation, and pay prosecution costs of £200, Magistrates told him: “Shouting and swearing in a public place is just not acceptable. Spitting at a police officer trying to carry out their duty is just not an acceptable thing to do.”