A 14-year-old girl has been arrested after spitting in the mouth of a police officer.
Devon and Cornwall Police was called to Boscawen Street, Truro yesterday after thefts were reported from stores in the city centre.
A teenager was apprehended on suspicion of stealing and causing anti-social behaviour at around 6.15pm, before officers were then spat and kicked at, the force said.
Devon and Cornwall Police was called to Boscawen Street, Truro, pictured, yesterday after thefts were reported from stores in the city centre
It is the latest in a series of disgusting incidents during the coronavirus lockdown.
On Sunday, a teenage yob spat in his hand and wiped it on the face of a terrified three-year-old girl before telling her he had the virus.
Matt Batty, 28, was returning from the shops with his daughter Alice-Rose in Darfield, Barnsley when the pair were confronted by four teenagers on bikes.
Alice-Rose innocently told them they should ‘go home because of the nasty bugs’ before one of them smeared spit in her face, telling her: ‘I’ve got corona’.
A few days earlier, NHS care manager Amy Hall, 28, was targeted by a member of the public in a Lidl car park in Waterlooville, Hampshire.
A ‘middle-aged man’ approached her and branded her a ‘virus spreader’ before attempting to spit on her as she walked towards the shop.
In recent weeks, a number of thugs have been jailed for similar attacks, often on those working on the frontline.
Luke Beresford, 24, was sentenced to 17 weeks in prison after he coughed and spat at a policeman on Easter Sunday, having been arrested for being drunk in Cheltenham town centre.
A teenager was apprehended on suspicion of stealing and causing anti-social behaviour at around 6.15pm, before officers were then spat and kicked at, the force said
Meanwhile, in the West Midlands three men were jailed for related offences.
Officers arrested Thomas Wilson, 19, after it is claimed he spat at a lorry driver and brandished an axe during an altercation in Coventry.
He resisted arrest and suggested he had Covid-19 symptoms before threatening to cough and spit at the female officer.
Wilson, from Hepworth Road, Binley, was charged with possessing an offensive weapon, a public order offence, assault by spitting at the lorry driver, and assaulting an emergency services worker.
Most charges were deferred to be dealt with at a later date but Judge Andrew Lockhart jailed Wilson after he admitted the spit threat.
On the same day another man, Bevan Burke, was jailed after he spat at a shopkeeper who had banned him from the store for shoplifting.
Police said Burke stormed into Allen’s Croft Post Office in Northfield, Birmingham, on April 3 and spat at the victim, shouting: ‘I have corona … you’re going to die.’
The 22-year-old was arrested later that day, and while being transported to police custody began coughing and blowing towards officers and again said: ‘I’ve got confirmed coronavirus and now you’ve got it. I hope you and your family die.’
He was jailed for 42 weeks at Birmingham Crown Court having admitted assaulting emergency workers and the shopkeeper, as well as shoplifting at the convenience store on January 10.
Meanwhile, a 54-year-old man was also given a prison sentence for spitting in the face of a West Midlands Police officer in Birmingham city centre.
Officers attended a petrol station in Corporation Street following reports of a drunk man causing problems, pouring fuel on the floor and obstructing traffic.
Anthony Evans, of no fixed address but originally from Atherstone in Warwickshire, tried kicking out at them and, as they detained him, spat in an officer’s face.
He was jailed for 16 weeks at Birmingham Crown Court, police said.
Anyone with information on the incident in Truro should contact police using the crime reference CR/032004/20.