A MAN from Bangor has denied a charge of assaulting an emergency worker by beating him in Rhyl as he was being arrested.
Phillip Heeley, 38, of Orme Terrace, had been accused of assaulting PC Thomas Ibbetson on Kinmel Street on October 26, 2022.
Having pleaded not guilty today (July 25), he will now stand trial at Mold Crown Court on December 5.
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Prosecuting, Paulinus Barnes played the court footage captured from the incident in question, which showed Heeley resisting officers attempting to arrest him for drunk and disorderly behaviour.
Heeley could be heard calling the officers “d*******s” before threatening to hit one of them.
He then told police he would comply with his arrest “as long as my dog gets f***ing looked after”.
Officers, who called him “Phillip”, told him to stop swearing, to which he replied: “My name’s ‘Phil’, you’re not my mum or my dad. Don’t call me Phillip, you cheeky c***. You’re not having my dog.”
Heeley was then told to “stop being a child”, and that he was being arrested for drunk and disorderly.
He replied: “Where’s my dog going? I’ve got a degree, you know.”
An officer was then called a “f****** idiot” and a “shady little b******” by Heeley, who also scratched and threatened to bite him.
Mr Barnes said that the footage showed Heeley, having been taken to the ground by officers, kicking out with his legs, forcing PC Ibbetson back towards railings.
In photos provided to the prosecution, Mr Barnes said, there is visible evidence of bruising on PC Ibbetson’s body sustained from the incident.
Heeley “repeatedly tried to bite and scratch as officers attempted to stand him up and take him to the (police) van,” Mr Barnes added.
Ryan Rothwell, defending, said that the prosecution “needs to prove an actual assault by beating,” but that the “evidence doesn’t show that at all”.
“There is no bite,” Mr Rothwell said.
“At the relevant time, the defendant’s legs do not kick out (at PC Ibbetson).”
Presiding over the case, Judge Niclas Parry initially dismissed an application for a dismissal of the charge, before Heeley then pleaded not guilty.
Judge Parry extended Heeley’s bail on the same terms until the date of his trial.
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