Dad assaulted officer after partner’s protest arrest

A father who assaulted a police officer when his partner was arrested during a protest in Nottingham city centre has been given a suspended sentence.

Kevin Musgrave, 37, admitted grabbing the officer’s arm as his girlfriend was detained when hundreds of people gathered near the Brian Clough Statue in King Street.

But a court heard on Thursday that Musgrave, of Derbyshire, was not involved in the protest itself but was arrested for assault and criminal damage after he spat in a police vehicle.

The self-employed roofer was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

District judge Sunil Khanna told Musgrave at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court: “I must say, Mr Musgrave, it was touch and go.

“Had you been part of the main group, I would have sent you straight to prison.”

Musgrave, of High Lane East in Ilkeston, was arrested after his partner Victoria Gray pushed a police officer and spat on another during the Nottingham protest – one of a number to take place across the UK on August 3.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had said Gray was detained after pushing an officer policing the protest in Long Row.

The 42-year-old, also of High Lane East, shouted a series of offensive racist and homophobic comments and went on to spit on one of the officers arresting her, the CPS added.

She pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including assaults and possession of a weapon, after she took a can of pepper spray to the scene.

At a court hearing on August 7, she was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

BBC News