A MAN has been handed a community order after spitting in the face of a police officer.

Kieron Smith, of Grosvenor Road, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old had previously admitted that on April 30, he assaulted a police officer at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Molly Rumsey, prosecuting, told the court the defendant was at the hospital with officers while he was intoxicated, and he became abusive and aggressive.

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Sitting in a wheelchair, he told them how he "wanted to fight them," and kicked out at one officer - spitting in his face and eyes.

After spitting, the defendant told the officer: "Ha ha, you have HIV."

Ms Rumsey said the defendant also received a suspended sentence for assaulting an emergency worker in 2019.

After interviewing the defendant, probation officer Andrew Connah told the court: "He accepts responsibility but has little memory of what happened due to his level of intoxication.

"He had mixed alcohol with his mental health medication.

"As a result of his behaviour, he was sectioned under the mental health act.

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"Since then, his mental health has stabilised, and he tells me he sticks rigidly to his medication."

Alex McKenzie, defending, said the incident had involved and was committed in the midst of a "mental health crisis" following the death of his father.

The court made Smith the subject of a 12-month community order, to include 15 days of rehabilitation activity and a 90-day alcohol abstinence monitoring order.

He was ordered to pay £620 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.