Rugby man jailed for a spate of ‘disgraceful’ drunken offences - including assaults on two police officers

He also attacked a retired man who asked him to be quiet outside his house
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A Rugby man who assaulted two police officers and a retired man during a spate of ‘disgraceful’ drunken offences over a two-month period has been jailed.

A Judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that Dale Adams had turned to drink after a long relationship ended and he then lost his job because of the pandemic – but told him that was no excuse.

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Adams (34), of Rugby, was given consecutive sentences totalling 15 months after pleading guilty to two charges of common assault on emergency workers, common assault and damage.

Dale AdamsDale Adams
Dale Adams

Prosecutor Sally Cairns said that in July last year of-duty police officer Jason Stokes was at his home in Rugby at 8.30 in the evening when he heard banging outside.

He looked out and saw overturned wheelie bins and Adams staggering around and screaming at his partner who was shouting back at him and pulling him around.

Mr Stokes went out to try to calm him down, but Adams responded by threatening: “What the f*** are you staring at? Do you want some?”

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Adams picked up a branch and came towards Mr Stokes in a threatening manner, so the off-duty officer asked his wife to call the police as Adams continued to come towards him.

Mr Stokes shouted that he was a police officer, but Adams told him ‘I don’t give a f***’ before walking away, still brandishing the branch.

As Mr Stokes followed him, Adams picked up half a brick from a garden and walked back towards him aggressively, so the officer grabbed him and took him to the floor where Adams struggled before being restrained.

Adams said at the scene that he was sorry, and that he had a row with his girlfriend and that he had mental health issues.

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But when he was interviewed he denied threatening Mr Stokes who he claimed had not identified himself as a police officer until after pinning him down.

Mrs Cairns said that in August the police were called to Lawford Road at 7.45 in the morning over of a disturbance between two men, both of whom were intoxicated, and a woman.

The other man had a wound to his neck, so an ambulance was called, but he did not want to get in, and Adams insisted his friend should not be taken.

There was a report that Adams had assaulted the woman, so he was arrested and put in a police car where he became agitated.

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When an officer, Pc Curtis, tried to take his phone, Adams put it in his mouth and then wiped the saliva on in over the front of Pc Curtis’s body armour before kicking out at him.

Then on September 6 Adams spent the afternoon drinking at a flat before his partner and another of the women there left and went to the nearby home of a retired man.

They left after five minutes, and the man then heard a commotion outside, so opened his door to tell them to be quiet.

But he was then approached by Adams who asked him ‘Are you Dave?’ and punched or pushed him, causing him to fall, then threw something at a window, smashing it, before walking away.

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Mrs Cairns said Adams had been a regular offender in his youth, but had then been out of trouble for 12 years until more recent convictions for assaulting an emergency worker and affray.

Colin Charvill, defending, said Adams had kept out of trouble until the breakdown of a relationship led to him becoming depressed and drinking to excess.

“Unfortunately at the start of the pandemic he lost his job, and things as far as he was concerned were on a downward spiral, and he didn’t deal with it in the best way.”

Judge Anthony Potter told Adams: “Your behaviour over a two-month period was nothing short of disgraceful.

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“It is an understatement to say that the last 12 months have been challenging for everyone in this country.

“Everyone has been put under enormous strain, and there are many people who, like you, have lost their employment or found their relationships have foundered.

“But the majority of people have not reacted in the antisocial manner you have – and of the people who have suffered most and have had to bear most of the responsibility are emergency workers who have had to deal with a welter of issues.”