An officer needed surgery after a laughing man bit two of his fingers.
Warren Hughes, 27, bit down “extremely hard” on a police officer's left little finger and "laughed as he did so".
When the officer used his right hand to prise his mouth open Hughes bit his right middle finger as well and only let go when twice struck with a baton.
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The victim had to stay in the plastics ward in hospital all day and underwent a 40 minute operation. He also had to have antibiotics and an injection for Hepatitis C.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, January 31, that in a victim statement the officer said in his 16 years of policing he had not seen the level of violence Hughes demonstrated.
Kyra Badman, prosecuting, said the officer also said “he experienced flashbacks of seeing his finger being bitten by the defendant and his mouth filling with blood. He struggled with effects of shock, sleeplessness and anxiety.
“He needed two weeks off work to recover and was then placed on restricted duties upon his return due to limited use of the left hand.”
The court was told police officers were at Whiston Hospital with Hughes on August 1, 2020 after his arrest following a disturbance in Huyton.
Hughes was obstructive and difficult with staff and before the attack he had threatened the officers that he would “stamp all over your face” and “I’m going to get you when I see you in the street, you’ll see.”
Ms Badman said that two months later Hughes, a self-confessed cocaine user, started demanding money from a former school friend after they met by chance and started spending time together.
On one occasion while his former school friend was in Dovecot Park walking his dog, Hughes, who had a knuckleduster attached to his belt, “jumped out of the darkness” and started threatening him.
On January 2 last year Hughes' former friend received a text from Hughes reading, “Lad I will light ye gaf up” (sic) and three days later Hughes repeatedly banged on his door.
The next day he again heard kicking at his door and “for a few seconds he saw a bright glow and saw a small fire, approximately the width of a mobile phone, in the letter box.
“Through the peephole in the door [his former school friend] could see Hughes outside. [His former school friend] felt the door and the frame shake as Hughes kicked at the door again. The fire was extinguished by [his former school friend] using his pyjama bottoms. “
After seeing him leave his former friend rang police and he was arrested nearby. Once on the floor as directed he was struggling and his behaviour was described as “aggressive and irrational.”
When searched he was found to have a bottle of whisky, cigarettes and a lighter. A knuckleduster, which he admitted was his, was found beneath a nearby car.
Ms Badman said the victim had been left scared to be out and has moved in with a relative as did not feel safe being alone.
Hughes, formerly of Beechburn Crescent, Roby, who has 16 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to attempted arson, harassment, possessing a knuckleduster and wounding the police officer.
Judge Louise Brandon told Hughes, who appeared via video link from Ashworth High Security Hospital in Maghull, that two psychiatrists have agreed he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
This is “treatment resistant” and he has underlying personality disorders which require further investigation. He has abused alcohol and drugs, she said.
Hughes has a mental health and criminal history and both doctors agreed there is an “ongoing risk of further violence and aggression.”
Judge Brandon told Hughes, who kept interrupting: “The public need to be protected from you and you need protecting from yourself.”
Hughes had initially been in custody in prison but had been transferred to Ashworth after his condition deteriorated.
Judge Brandon reiterated that he presents a serious risk of harm to others and imposed a hospital order without limit of time.
David Woods, defending, had told the court that Hughes had pleaded guilty and doctors agreed he was suffering from mental health issues.
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