Clipstone thug’s racist abuse and “hideous” bite led two cops to consider quitting the force

A Clipstone thug who hurled vile racist abuse at one police officer and hideously-scarred another by biting him made both victims consider quitting the force, a court has heard

Robert Harkess was drunk and verbally abusive as officers dealt with “a violent encounter between a number of people” outside the Bowl in Hand pub, on Leeming Street, at 11.45pm on July 25.

Reading the officers’ statements, prosecutor Lucy Woodcock said Harkess had to be restrained and locked in the police riot van, where he began smashing his head against a plastic panel.

When one officer tried to calm him down, Harkess, aged 33, clamped down with his teeth on his forearm, “tightening and biting with more force” and causing excruciating pain.

“I feel sick and angry that another human being has inflicted such a nasty wound on another person,” the officer said. “The job is hard enough without having to deal with a drunk person whose behaviour was like a violent animal.”

He said the attack left him with a “hideous scar” and the fear of blood contamination.

The second officer, who was the most racially-abused police officer in Nottinghamshire in 2023 and 2024, was subjected to “severe” racial abuse from Harkess.

The court heard he grew up locally, served for nine years in the Armed Forces, and previously “held my head high,” but said being compared to a rapist and Harkess’s racist slurs “left me wondering whether I am proud to be British any more.”

“What have people like that ever done to serve anyone other than themselves?” he asked.

“I ultimately believe he is a risk to people of ethnic backgrounds other than white British. There is no possible excuse for what he did.”

The court heard Harkess was convicted of similar offences in 2024.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said Harkess doesn’t usually drink heavily but the alcohol “heightened issues on his mind” surrounding recent rape allegations at Sutton Lawn.

“He has expressed an understanding of how badly he has behaved,” he added.

Harkess, of Vicar’s Court, admitted racially-aggravated harassment, homophobic threats, criminal damage and assaulting an emergency worker when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on July 28.

On Tuesday he received a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work, a 120-day alcohol abstinence tag and ten rehabilitation days.

The Chad