Judge lifts curfew order so thug who attacked a police officer... can go on a golfing holiday

After a drunken assault on a policeman, Lee Jones might have thought he had done well to escape with a suspended sentence and a night-time curfew. But the best was still to come.

A judge has now agreed to lift the curfew so the offender can fly off on a golfing holiday in Portugal.

The decision was condemned as "outrageous" by campaigners.

Jones, 24, was given a six-month suspended jail sentence only last month and ordered to stay at home between 8pm and 5am after he admitted punching a police officer repeatedly in the face.

Yesterday his probation officer returned to Gloucester Crown Court to ask for the curfew to be suspended between May 8 and 13 so that Jones can enjoy his holiday.

Judge Martin Picton, who imposed the original sentence, agreed to the request, and even made a joke about it.

"I was almost dissuaded when I looked at the brochure," he said. "You don't really deserve a golf course of that quality."

But his ruling - and his tone - were greeted with dismay.

Police Federation county chairman Ian Anderson said: "The only people smiling about this will be the criminals. Everyone else will just look in disbelief.

"What kind of deterrent was the sentence if it can just be forgotten for a few days so the offender can go off golfing in the sun?"

Laurence Robertson, Tory MP for Tewkesbury, has promised to investigate the ruling. He said: "It seems absolutely extraordinary that someone can commit a violent crime and have his punishment put off so soon, just to suit his lifestyle.

"It's not as though these are extraordinary circumstances like a funeral. It sends out completely the wrong kind of message that you can act like this and get a slap on the wrist.

"This sort of behaviour is typical of what's worrying people on the streets at the minute and I will be investigating the full reasons for the decision to alter the curfew."

Jones, of Tewkesbury, had consumed ten pints of lager and was fighting in the street with another man on October 14 last year when a police constable tried to intervene.

Jones turned on the officer, punching him several times in the face and leaving him with severe swelling and a cut mouth. The defendant said he had little memory of what happened but his lawyer told the court he was "totally ashamed" of his actions. He pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

The probation service explained last night that they had made the application to lift the curfew because Jones already had the golfing trip booked before he was sentenced.

"Where people already have holidays booked we have to take it before the court and ask for any orders to be varied so they can take those holidays," a spokesman said.

Jones yesterday thanked the judge for his kindness. "He has obviously decided to give me a chance which was really good of him," he said. "I didn't expect that at all. I'm going golfing with my mates in Portugal. I love golf and do it as much as I can."

Of his crime, he said: "I'm really embarrassed and ashamed about the whole thing."