A man has been jailed for 19 months for a drunken and drug-fuelled string of assaults that included attacking a Bradford taxi driver and nine of the city’s police officers.

Jonathon Withey committed four sets of offences in nine months, spitting at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and punching and kicking his victims while on prison licence and then on bail.

Recorder Paul Reid said 29-year-old Withey had an appalling record for dishonesty and violence and had shown “a complete inability to control his behaviour.”

Withey, of Kendra Way, Bradford Moor, Bradford, was on licence when the police went to arrest him at Bradford Royal Infirmary on March 12 last year.

Bradford Crown Court heard today that he faked “a medical episode” at the hospital when they arrived. He spat at an officer and while he was trying to avoid the spittle, he bit him hard on the thumb, breaking the skin and causing a nasty wound that bled.

He was held in custody until July 4 and next came to the police’s attention after his release on bail. They were called to a violent incident in Kirkgate, Shipley, on August 8, the court was told.

Withey and another man had punched and kicked a taxi driver in a dispute over payment of the fare. A passer-by who intervened to help the cabbie was also set upon and hit and kicked.

After he was arrested, Withey tripped up two officers at Bradford’s Trafalgar House Police Station as he was being taken to the cells. Both banged their heads when they fell and one received a cut elbow.

On November 20, the police were called to a report of a man being drunk and disorderly at the Wine Lodge in Ivegate in Bradford city centre. He had been asked to leave because he was intoxicated and being abusive, the court heard.

The officers approached Withey on the street nearby and he was drunk and abusive to them. He spat on a police officer’s hat when it was lying on the ground and on her trouser leg and went on to assault four more officers, spitting at two of them and kicking the other two.

He then spat all over the walls of his holding cell.

Withey was arrested again on Christmas Eve after reports that he was drunk and offering to fight people in James Street in Bradford. He was in breach of a court curfew order while on bail.

He was handcuffed when he assaulted another police officer, and he was in possession of cocaine.

Withey pleaded guilty to nine offences of assaulting a police officer as an emergency worker by beating them; two offences of common assault; criminal damage to a police officer’s hat and a holding cell; and possession of cannabis and cocaine.

Upkar Bahia said in mitigation that he was realistic enough not to want a probation report.

He was living in a bail hostel when he was admitted to the hospital after suffering a seizure. He was circulated as being wanted but he had been in hospital for ten days.

He didn’t want to go with the police and there was a tussle in the entrance to BRI in which he bit the officer’s hand.

After he was released on bail he was binge drinking and taking drugs. He was struggling with alcohol and depression and suffering seizures.

Withey was now determined to change his ways, Mr Bahia said.

He had now pleaded guilty to all the offences and being remanded in Leeds Prison had sobered him up and made him determined to make a fresh start.

He had a supportive partner who was willing to stand by him and give him a home if he sorted himself out.

Withey knew he was going to jail and was keen to know his fate, Mr Bahia said.

Recorder Reid said Withey couldn’t control himself when under the influence of drink or drugs.

He had caused “untold expense” to the NHS who had to treat all his victims, and to the public purse by causing the damage.

“Spitting is an utterly reprehensible and totally disgusting thing to do,” Recorder Reid said. It was made even worse because it was during the Covid-19 pandemic.