Get Tough On Cowards Abusing NHS Heroes

Respect NHS heroes, you may need one soon

- Michael Knowles and John Twomey

Soft jail sentences for sick thugs who attack Britain’s virus-fighting emergency heroes must be challenged by the Government’s law chief, a former top prosecutor said yesterday.

The public expects criminals guilty of “hateful crimes” like attacking nurses, doctors, paramedics and police to face the longest possible jail terms.

But yesterday, a yob who spat at three police officers after claiming he was infected with coronavirus was jailed for just twelve weeks, a quarter of the maximum available sentence.

Peter Davy, 65, admitted the sickening assault on the frontline workers in Brighton on Saturday.

But, in a similar case, a district judge sent thug Paul Leivers to jail for the maximum 12 months after he admitted two counts of spitting at police in Nottinghamshire.

Now, former chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal has urged Attorney General Suella Braverman to refer unduly lenient sentences involving assaults on key workers to the Court of Appeal.

He said: “The Crown Prosecution Service issued guidance saying that they are going to pursue these cases with vigour and that people can look forward to 12 months in prison for the worst offences.