Judge Mark Hamill, sitting in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, said the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) should take a harsher attitude while police officers are concerned about the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

The judge yesterday jailed one man for spitting on a police officer and remanded another man suspected of spitting on a police officer in custody.

Both of the men were charged with assault on a police officer, among other offences.

Judge Hamill told the court: “In the current climate, to spit on someone’s face is either actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm. Convey that to the PPS please.”

He added: “Anybody allegedly behaving like this in the course of a pandemic, I’m afraid, is going to be remanded in custody. There’s the deterrent for everybody else.”