Portsmouth man sentenced for assaulting a police officer in Fareham

A Portsmouth man who assaulted a police officer outside of Fareham Police Station has been sentenced to ten months in prison.

Daniel Horsted, 42, of Austin Court, Portsmouth, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday 16 November charged with assault on an emergency worker.

The court heard how on December 9th last year, Horsted attended Fareham Police Station to make an enquiry when he became verbally abusive towards front desk staff.

Police officers at the station attempted to engage with Horsted, who continued to be verbally abusive before assaulting an officer outside of the station.

Horsted pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker. He also pleaded guilty to racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress and two counts of assault by beating in relation to an incident that took place on September 15th 2020 in Paulsgrove.

The court heard how Horsted had made racially abusive comments to a 33-year-old woman and assaulted a 69-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man in an altercation at Austin Court.

Horsted’s sentence also reflected a breach of a Suspended Sentence Order issued by Portsmouth Crown Court in 2019 for criminal damage and threats with a bladed article.

DS Jamie Palmer of Hampshire Constabulary’s Eastern Criminal Investigation Department said: “We take a zero tolerance approach to assaults on our officers, and do not accept that it is simply part of the job.

“No emergency worker should turn up to work and expect to come to harm. As a force we will continue to work with the CPS to ensure that those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice.

“In terms of Horsted’s racially aggravated offence, no-one should be subjected to such abuse and it will not be tolerated.

“We encourage anyone who suffers hate crime, or receives a serious threat against them to report it to the police, either by calling 101 or online through the True Vision website at www.report-it.org.uk. Always call 999 in an emergency.”