Aggressive man has meltdown in dock after breaking officer’s finger

James Beswick appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, August 28 after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecuting, Arthur Gibson told the court that on May 25, 2022, the 38-year-old appeared at Warrington Magistrates’ Court.

In his appearance, Beswick was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for using threatening or abusive words and harassment and was instructed to make his way to the cells with the dock officers.

Beswick refused to leave the dock and remained seated saying: “You three are not going to get me downstairs.”

The court heard he then pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and said he was going to call his sister and refused to acknowledge the officers or hand over his phone.

Mr Gibson told the court that Beswick then began to ‘lash out’ at the custody officers, punching one of them to the right side of their face and eye socket.

Eventually Beswick was restrained, but during the outburst, the officer noticed one of his fingers had also been injured and later went to Warrington Hospital, where he was told it was fractured.

Later, when Beswick was asked to attend an interview at a police station, he said he remembered trying to make a phone call and that was all he could remember.

The court heard that Beswick said that if he had injured the officer, it had not been intentional.

An impact statement was read to the court, where the victim stated the incident had ‘given him flashbacks’ to a time where he had previously been held hostage 15 years prior.

“All I was trying to do was my job,” the statement read.

“I did not deserve what happened. I do not come to work to get assaulted.

Beswick assaulted a custody officer at Warrington Magistrates' Court

While Beswick initially pleaded not guilty to the charge, he changed his plea to guilty on March 12 of this year.

Beswick, who has a number of previous convictions, including criminal damage and battery, was represented by Andrew McInnes.

“Whether it is because of his military background and what he has seen, it seems that this defendant has, over the years, lost his temper,” said Mr McInnes.

“He has obtained good employment. He is clearly a good employee; he works almost every shift, and he has had no holidays.”

During his sentencing remarks, judge Brian Cummings said he has no ‘no difficulty’ accepting that Beswick is ‘a good worker’ and that there is a realistic expectation of rehabilitation.

“Whatever may have happened in your life, whatever may appear on your criminal record, you are still only in your 30s, and there is a realistic expectation of rehabilitation,” said Judge Cummings.

“No one is going to write you off at this stage.”

However, in the pre-sentence report issued by the probation service, Beswick was deemed to be a ‘risk of serious harm to the public’.

“What you did in this case cause serious harm to someone, which demonstrates that you do have it in you to do that,” said Judge Cummings.

“You cannot viciously assault a custody officer in the dock of a court when you are there to face sentence and not expect to go to prison for it.”

Beswick was sentenced to 16 months immediate imprisonment and had his head in his hands as his fate was revealed by the judge.

It was after his sentence was issued that Beswick, once again, lashed out in the dock and told the officers sat behind him to ‘f**k off’ when they tried to escort him to the cells.

As he stood up, Beswick aggressively pushed over a piece of furniture that was in the dock with him and stormed out towards the cells, continuing to swear as he did so.

The 37-year-old was heard yelling in the court as he stormed back into the dock and attempted to punch the back wall.

“I want to go home, I’m not f*****g going,” he said.

Beswick, of Meldon Road in Heysham, near Lancaster,  was eventually restrained by officers and taken down to the cells.