A MAN who spat at a police detention officer while being held in a cell on suspicion of begging has been jailed for 24 weeks.

Robert Hill hid under a blanket to stop the officer from monitoring him after he claimed to have taken an overdose, Bradford Crown Court heard last week.

When the officer pulled the blanket off so that he could see him, Hill spat at him saying: “Next time I’ll punch you in the face.”

Hill, 41, of Laisteridge Lane, Bradford, had 58 previous convictions for 123 offences, including begging, theft, battery, affray and having a bladed article.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the detention officer as an emergency worker by spitting at him at Trafalgar House Police Station on September 13 last year.

Hill further admitted failing to turn up for his trial at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court on February 9.

Prosecutor Caroline Abraham said he was convicted in his absence and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was remanded to Leeds Prison and committed to the crown court for sentence.

Miss Abraham said the spitting offence happened after Hill was arrested at 2.20pm.

The spit landed on the officer’s leg but Hill told another officer he was aiming for his eye and was annoyed that he had missed.

The victim, who had been a detention officer for 17 years, mistakenly believed that Hill had hepatitis C because it said so on his record, the court was told.

Harriet Lavin said in mitigation that the spit landed on the officer’s clothing and so could not have infected him even if Hill had hepatitis C.

Hill’s mental health was deteriorating rapidly at the time, partly because of his long-term drug use, the court was told.

He had been using crack cocaine since he was 13.

The death of his partner had been a huge setback and affected the way he was behaving.

Hill was very quickly arrested on the warrant so justice had not been seriously obstructed, Miss Lavin said.

He had been remanded in prison since February 11.

The court was told he had complied well with the conditions of his licence when he was released from a jail sentence in 2017 and was at risk of losing his home if he spent any longer behind bars.

Judge Andrew Hatton jailed Hill for 20 weeks for spitting at the officer with four weeks to run consecutively for the Bail Act offence.

He said that – with well over 100 offences on his record – there was no prospect of rehabilitation in his case.