Teenage girl sentenced after officer assault incident in Newport

A teenager who assaulted a police officer in Newport has been sentenced to a Detention Training Order, part of which will be served in custody.

Police were called at 11.43am on 4 February with reports that the 16-year-old had made threats towards people in Albany Road, Newport with a weapon, which was later found to be a BB gun.

The girl was located by police on St James Street before she made further threats towards a police officer.

The officer was then assaulted, sustaining a head injury.

The teenager, from Ryde, was arrested and subsequently charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and three counts of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. She admitted these offences at a previous court hearing.

Appearing at Isle of Wight Youth Court on Wednesday 3 March, the teenager was sentenced to an 18 month Detention Training Order. This requires the defendant to serve half of their sentence in custody, and the remainder will be served in the community under the supervision of the Youth Offending Team.

Chief Inspector Rob Brind said: “This was understandably a concerning incident for the victims, who initially thought the weapon being carried was a viable firearm.

“Officers respond to incidents on the basis of the information we are provided with, and we hope the community are reassured that we will always act swiftly and in the interests of public safety when these types of incident are reported to us.

“We also want to thank the member of the public that intervened to help detain the suspect after one of our officers was assaulted.

“Assaults on police will not be tolerated. Police officers and staff perform a difficult and often dangerous role, but we do not view assaults as simply being part of the job.

“Officers and staff come into contact with people who are sometimes going through the worst experience of their lives, but this doesn’t give people the right to ever verbally or physically abuse our people.”