A THUG who attacked a police officer, leaving him with potential cartilage damage to his knee, has been jailed for eight months.

Sean McCulloch, of Pine House, Prestwick, admitted to attacking two police officers by punching one repeatedly on the head, and kicking the other in the knee on January 9, which has potentially caused serious cartilage damage to his knee.

The 22-year-old appeared from custody in front of Sheriff John Montgomery at Ayr Sheriff Court last week.

Depute Fiscal, Andrew Lazzarin, explained: “The accused lives with his partner. The police received an anonymous phone called about an ongoing disturbance. At 10:25pm, four police officers attended the locus.

“The police saw the accused at the top of the stairs. The accused shouted, “there’s the f**king scum at the door” – his partner tried to calm him down.

“The accused was further abusive towards the police officers shouting, “f**k you”, “f**k off” and “you are nothing but scum”.

“The police then attempted to cuff him – the accused then threw punches and struck [an officer] repeatedly on the head.

“Further assistance was called, with four more officers – there were eight officers in total that attended. During taking control of the accused, he started kicking [an officer] in the knee.

“The police officer had to go to hospital and he was unable to continue his duty.”

Speaking directly to McCulloch’s defence solicitor, Tony Currie, Sheriff Montgomery said: “Your client wants me to deal with this today, but I don’t think I can do that, but he is going to jail. I want to know how long [the officer] was off his work for.”

It was later confirmed that the officer that McCulloch kicked in the knee, had been off work since the incident took place, with possible cartilage damage and physio appointments being made.

Speaking on McCulloch’s behalf, Mr Currie, added: “My client accepts full responsibility and recognises your lordship will impose custody.

“Perhaps what is unusual is that there had been a disturbance which had not involved Mr McCulloch.

"This was another man – his position is that he had been visited by an old friend and had a drink with this friend. When the police came in to check [the disturbance], this led him to act in this manner.

"He lost all composure from that point - he has been in custody as a consequence and expects that to be continued.”

Sheriff Montgomery ordered McCulloch to serve eight months.