A repeat offender who hurled racist abuse and spat in a police officer’s face in Sheffield has been jailed

Hensley Scott was spotted acting suspiciously on Blackburn Drive, Chapeltown, Sheffield, at 11.45am on Monday, November 23 last year, said prosecutor Craig Lowe.

"What the f*** do you want?" he asked officers, appearing "wide-eyed and agitated" and pushing up against one of them.

As he was put into the back of a police vehicle, he began swearing and told one of the officers: "I'll knock your head off you white ****. Who's the f****** muppet? You're the f****** muppet."

He continued to shout racist abuse for more than an hour as he was taken to the police station.

At 2.30pm, after he was placed in a cell, he asked for a blanket, but when it was passed through the hatch he spat in a female officer's face.

"I'll f****** hammer you, you white *****," he told her.

Scott continued behaving badly and spat at another officer as they tried to remove toilet paper that Scott placed over the inspection hatch.

The court heard he had 16 previous convictions for 51 offences that back to 2003, including possession of a knife, common assault, wounding, and burglary.

He was jailed in 2010 for conspiracy to supply heroin, in 2017 for three counts of battery and possession of a knife, and in 2020 for racially aggravated public order offences.

Dermot Hughes, mitigating, said Scott indicated guilty pleas at an early stage.

He said it was "mystifying" why a "plainly intelligent young man" committed these "unpleasant offences."

"He has the ability to mend his ways and find gainful employment," Mr Hughes said. "The sentence is being served during Covid and prison conditions are more difficult."

Scott, aged 32, of Regent Street, Balby, Doncaster, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault on an emergency worker, racially aggravated harassment and common assault.

Sentencing him to 52 weeks in prison, Recorder Taryn Turner told him his behaviour was "appalling," and said: "I won't go into the choice words you used or the number of times you made those abusive comments.”

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