'Simply appalling': Man who bit through police officer's ear is jailed

A thug who bit through a policeman's ear and spat in his face has been jailed.

Kalvin Stemp, 25, also bit the officer’s arm as he resisted attempts to arrest him on suspicion of drug offences.

The officer worked for Kent Police, which welcomed the three-year sentence for the "simply appalling" attack.

On 6 November last year, landscape gardener Stemp was part of a group approached by two uniformed officers in a car park in Maidstone. They smelt cannabis coming from his direction, Maidstone Crown Court heard, with the situation quickly escalating into violence.

Honor Fitzgerald, prosecuting, told the court how, at 11.30pm, PCs Alexander Fields and Joseph Turner had approached the group.

She said: “The group was evasive and Stemp and a female began to walk away. PC Turner then took hold of Stemp and told him he was being detained for the purpose of a search.”

The woman, Stemp’s girlfriend who has epilepsy, then took hold of the officer’s arm and told him to get off, but was pushed away.

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Stemp shouted “don’t touch her!" before being taken to the ground and told he was being arrested, the court heard.

Fitzgerald added: “Although one of his wrists was handcuffed, he used the other to scratch the officer’s eye.”

Andrew Smith, 50, claimed Stemp was his nephew and offered to help calm him down.

But Stemp then scratched the officer and headbutted his jaw before lunging at PC Fields and biting his right ear and left forearm, drawing blood.

Stemp then spat in the officer’s face and hair as Smith and an accomplice, Daniel Colegate, joined in by punching the officers before they made off.

All three were tracked down and charged a few days later.

Ian Dear, representing Stemp, said he had taken on the care of his girlfriend since they met and he had been concerned for her safety.

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Judge Julian Smith told Stemp he accepted his main concern had been the welfare of his girlfriend, but that the violence which followed was “almost inexplicable”.

He told him: “You are hard-working and a caring individual, and there are so many features of your care for her.

“But whatever it was that she was doing that night, she lost control in her anxiety about you, but you didn’t do the right things.

“I don’t think it justifies what you did, and the officers were shocked by what they experienced that night.”

Stemp, of Maidstone, was jailed for three years and two months after he admitted causing grievous bodily harm and assault.

Smith, of Langley, Kent, was given a 15-month community order and must do 200 hours of unpaid work after admitting assault and actual bodily harm.

Colegate, 25, of East Malling, Kent, admitted assault and received a 12-month community order plus a four-month 12-hour curfew for his role in the attack.

Kent Police's chief inspector Mark McLellan said following the sentencing: "The level of violence and aggression displayed by all those involved was simply appalling.

"Stemp bit one of our officers so violently, the cartilage to one his ears was left exposed and the attack is likely to leave him with lasting scars."

He added the court had "made it clear that emergency workers need to be protected and that violence towards police officers carrying out their duties simply won’t be tolerated.

"Being assaulted must never be seen as just part of the job and we will always seek to bring to justice those who leave our officers suffering cuts, bruises, bites and the emotional trauma associated with being attacked on duty."