A 25-year-old Lydbrook man who drunkenly assaulted three police officers has been sentenced to a 12-week suspended jail term.

Lewis Slade of Edwards Close, Joys Green, was also ordered by Cheltenham Magistrates to pay the officers each £100 compensation.

Slade pleaded guilty to assaulting the officers, two men and a woman, during the course of their duties as emergency workers on May 21st 2024.

As well as the jail term, which was suspended for a year, and the compensation order, the magistrates told Slade he will have to attend up to 10 rehabilitation activity days and pay costs of £200 and a £154 surcharge.

Explaining the reasons for their sentence, the court said his behaviour towards the officers had been 'unacceptable' at a time when they were trying to help.

The assaults had a "significant impact" on the officers, especially as there was spitting involved, the magistrates added.

"You had self induced the intoxication, you have previous convictions for similar offending", added the magistrates.

The offending was further aggravated, they added, by virtue of the victims being emergency workers. Therefore, the court concluded, the sentence had to be uplifted from a community order to a suspended prison term.