Mark Weatherley, 43, launched a foul-mouthed rant and attacked the two officers who had come to the address in Sidcup, southeast London, following reports that he had assaulted his mother
A thug with a grudge against authority left a policewoman with a serious brain injury when he attacked her and a female colleague after they called at his address.
Mark Weatherley, 43, launched a foul-mouthed tirade and assaulted the two officers when he returned to his address in Sidcup, southeast London, to find the two officers who had been responding to a report that he had assaulted his mother.
Woolwich Crown Court heard how Weatherley screamed: “I hate you with a passion, I hate the lot of you,” before calling the two officers “scum” and “f*cking sl*gs,” before launching his attack.
The court heard that when the two officers tried to calm Weatherley down he punched both of them in the face and kicked and punched them as they lay on the floor.
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The officers were able to call for backup before trying to arrest Weatherley when he lashed out during the incident on Monday, 29 June. Both women were left unconscious with one suffering a traumatic brain injury as a result of the vicious assault. Neither has been able to return to work following the incident.
Both injured officers were taken to hospital—one with multiple facial fractures around her eye socket and cheek, and the other suffering a broken nose and facial injuries. Following his arrest Weatherley was so violent that police were unable to take his mugshot, the only image cops were able to release of the thug was a still taken from footage on the body-worn camera of one of his victims.
After his arrest police said he told them: “I think I killed her; I think I snapped that girls’ neck when I punched her. That c–t. That’ll teach her for coming in my house without a search warrant and not leaving when I asked her to.”
He added: “They could have been two geezers, and I would have f*cking killed them. The only reason I didn’t stamp on them was because they were women.”
One of the officers said she was left “traumatised” by the attack, in a victim impact statement heard by the court. She described how she still suffers from pain in her head, and might never be able to return to work, and experiences pain when eating.
Meanwhile her colleague said she suffers from constant panic attacks in the wake of the attack and has insomnia – she is undergoing therapy. Weatherley, of Sidcup, southeast London, earlier admitted two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He has a string of previous convictions for racially aggravated common assault, assaulting emergency workers, and malicious communications.
Sentencing Weatherley on Friday, 26 September, Judge Christopher Grout told him: “These two officers had attended your property that day in order to help a member of the public, your mother, who they believed needed assistance.
“As a result of trying to help someone they were subjected to the most brutal of attacks. You repeatedly punched and kicked the officers, returning to each of them to continue with the assaults.
“There are, at present, undoubtedly psychological conditions that are continuing to affect the officers, neither of whom have yet returned to work. True it is that you said some truly appalling things to the officers, and about the police more generally, but this was not an attack which can properly be said to have been one borne out of revenge.
“What prompted the attack was your misguided belief that you had done nothing wrong and that the officers had no right to be at your address coupled with the officers’ attempt to arrest you.”
The judge went on to describe Weatherly as a “significant risk to the public” before sentencing him to eight years behind bars. Following his release he will have to spend another four years on licence.
