PC Darren Jenkins after he was assaulted in Leyton, East London

A policeman whose nose was broken in a violent assault has hit out at his attacker’s sentence after he avoided jail.

Riley Hope, 18, smashed PC Darren Jenkins’ head into a patio and punched him in the face when he tried to arrest him.

He was given a six-month suspended sentence and 200 hours unpaid work after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Officer Jenkins, 47, said the lack of prison sentence showed there was no deterrent for abusing police officers.


Darren Jenkins”s head was smashed onto a patio and his nose was broken (Picture: PA)

He said: ‘I love protecting the public, but who protects us?

‘If all the evidence is there, body-worn video is there, and if they are found guilty or admit doing it, then there has to be a mandatory jail term for people who assault police officers.



‘I was angry at the time about what Hope did. But I sort of expected the sentence, in a way, which is pretty sad.

‘There is no deterrent, and because there is no deterrent, we the police are now having the problems we are having.’

Hope crashed a moped into a concrete post during the morning rush hour in Leyton, east London, on January 23.

He has been off work for almost a month Picture: PA

PC Jenkins found him hiding in a bush and tried to detain him before he lashed out, inflicting injuries so severe that the officer is still off work almost a month later.

He claimed that Hope could have run off after punching him, but instead stayed to inflict more violence.

He said: ‘He purposely tried to finish me off by literally smashing my head.

‘The way he slammed my head into the floor; I know people are evil, and you see it all the time. But I thought that’s a step too much.’

He said the attack had not shaken his confidence as a police officer, but had made him worried about his young daughter’s ambition to join the force.

He said there should be mandatory sentences for people who assault police officers Picture: PA)

He called for guaranteed time behind bars for those who assault officers, amid rising numbers of this type of crime.

He said: ‘I’m not the biggest bloke in the world. I’m 5’11”, she’s 5’7″ and has a small frame. He probably would have killed her.

‘Especially with the punch to the face. It makes me think, what would she be getting into?’

Between November 2018 and 2019, 19,771 offences of assault on an emergency services worker were charged by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The maximum penalty is 12 months and before the election the Conservatives mooted plans to double this.

Metropolitan Police Federation Chairman Ken Marsh said the leniency of Hope’s sentence made a mockery of the legislation.

‘I am flabbergasted by this sentencing decision – as every single one of my Metropolitan Police colleagues will be.’



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