A JUDGE has adjourned sentencing a thug who knocked a man unconscious in Workington before attacking a police officer.

Jordan Roche, 24, who also spat in the face of a medical worker, was due to be sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court but the case was delayed because the prison where he is being held failed to hand over his medical records.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Recorder Tony Hawks said the prison involved – HMP Durham - had “effectively impeded the course of justice.” Without the necessary records, the psychiatrist working on the report could not complete it.

Yet those records must be readily available within the prison, remarked the judge.

At an earlier court hearing, Roche admitted four offences: two assaults on police officers and two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm. He committed all the offences in Workington on May 28.

The court heard that police became involved after an altercation in Washington Street when Roche stuck a man, knocking him to the ground and then running away. A lone female police officer found him and tried to arrest him.

He told her he had mental health issues and the officer managed to calm him down, the court heard. But when other officers arrived and tried to move him to a police van, Roche became violent, kicked out at an officers.

He kicked the officer again to the hand – so forcefully that her hand was broken and she now needs surgery to repair the damage. At the police station, as a medical worker spoke to Roche, he spat at him through the cell door hatch.

The spittle landed on the worker’s forehead.  Roche's criminal record was described in court as “appalling.” Defence lawyer John Cooper said there were 20 people involved in the town centre incident and there was “some level of provocation”.

Mr Cooper said Roche had worked at hotels in the North East after being released from prison and had then transferred to a hotel in Windermere where he had worked for a few weeks.

Recorder Hawks said that a full psychiatric report on Roche was vital before he could be sentenced. The defendant, formerly of Beech Hill Hotel and Spa, Newby Bridge, will now be sentenced on October 5, said Recorder Hawks.

In the meantime, he will remain remanded in custody.