Thug spat at police officer who refused to scratch his itchy nose while in handcuffs then kicked and stamped on his girlfriend's head in drunken attack

In a separate incident, Cameron Cawley spat at a police officer after he was arrested for causing a disturbance at Leeds bus station.

Leeds Crown Court heard Cawley assaulted his partner on June 6 this year after the couple had been drinking in Wetherby.

The attack began as they caught a bus back to Leeds city centre.

Ayman Khokhar, prosecuting, said Cawley became abusive and threatening towards the victim during an argument and spat at her on the bus.

The woman ran from the bus when it stopped near to East Keswick and she asked the driver not to let Cawley off the vehicle.

She ran into some fields and crawled under thick bushes in a bid to hide from the 25-year-old defendant.

Cawley got off the bus and began searching for the woman.

Mr Khokhar said: "After three or four minutes she heard the defendant say 'there you are'.

"He kicked the complainant in the head and stamped on the left side of her face."

Cawley threatened to kill the woman as he carried out the attack.

They went to help the woman and contacted police.

Cawley returned to the scene when police officers arrived.

He was arrested but claimed he had done nothing wrong and called the couple who helped his partner "grasses."

The woman suffered bruising and swelling to her face and near to her eye socket.

Cawley spat at a police officer after he was arrested at Leeds bus station the previous month, on May 26.

Officers were sent to the station after receiving reports that the defendant had been shouting abuse at members of the public.

As he was being arrested he told one of the officers that he would wait in the car park at Elland Road police station until he finished his shift then stab him with a samurai sword.

He threatened to stab another officer with a screwdriver.

Cawley then asked an officer to scratch his nose as it was itching and he was in handcuffs.

The prosecutor said the comment "caused amusement to the officer".

Cawley reacted by spitting and it landed on the officer's arm and the lenses of his glasses.

Cawley, of Sandhurst Terrace, Harehills, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assaulting an emergency worker.

He has a previous conviction for attacking his partner with a brick.

Nicholas Hammond, mitigating, said Cawley pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage.

Mr Hammond said Cawley had been drinking heavily since losing his job during the pandemic.

He added: "It became a toxic relationship because of the alcohol consumption.

"This defendant now acknowledges that he is violent in drink."

Recorder Anesh Pema jailed Cawley for 18 months.