A MAN who obstructed paramedics from taking a woman lying ‘intoxicated’ in the street to hospital has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Police were called to Windmill Lane in Cockermouth just after 12.30am on September 5 by paramedics who were treating the woman.

They were being obstructed by Ben Bentham, 41, who was stood by the ramp of the ambulance, Workington Magistrates’ Court heard.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, said the woman had been lying in the street. Bentham told paramedics she had been like that for 20 minutes but would not let them leave the area with her.

Paramedics assessed the woman who was ‘semi-conscious’ and under the influence of alcohol. She was deemed not to have capacity due to her intoxicated state.

As paramedics started taking a trolley towards the woman, Bentham became ‘extremely hostile’ towards them and was trying to intimidate them.

He was told that the woman needed to go to hospital and he said, ‘let’s put it down to drink’. He tried to get into the ambulance and when the paramedic went to close the ramp, he stood on the rear step to speak to the woman.

He stated that she didn’t need to go to hospital. Paramedics said she did.

Ms Fee said the obstruction went on for 45 minutes and the defendant had continually tried to intimidate the paramedics in that time by staring at them.

Police found a folding pocket knife in the defendant’s rear trouser pocket when they searched him.

During police interview, Bentham said he and the woman had been drinking. She became ‘limp’. He had asked a stranger to watch the victim while he went to his mother’s address.

A probation officer said Bentham could not recall obstructing the paramedics and said he hadn’t intended to.

He said he couldn’t remember standing on the rear step, stopping paramedics from shutting the door. He said he was ‘worried’ and was ‘panicking’ and ‘went about it in the wrong way’.

Bentham, who had no legal representation, told the court: “I had been drinking. There are some facts that aren’t correct.

“I wasn’t there when the ambulance arrived. I ran to my mother’s house to get a vehicle to bring [the woman] back to my house.

“When I returned, I couldn’t find [the woman] on the street. I started panicking, thinking he [the stranger] had taken her into his house.”

The defendant said he had no idea that the knife, which he uses for work, had been in his pocket.

Bentham, of Slatefell Drive, Cockermouth, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to obstructing an emergency worker and possessing a blade in a public place. 

Magistrates imposed an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. Bentham was given a 12-month community order with five rehabilitation activity requirement days and 60 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge. A deprivation order was made for the knife.