A MAN who bit a police officer has been spared jail by a judge who warned he would lock him up if he didn’t behave himself.

Shane Shaw, 27, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm after biting the police officer outside Bar Rouge in Huddersfield town centre last April.

As officers attempted to restrain Shaw’s brother, who had spat at a policeman, Shaw, of Riddings Road, Deighton, intervened to calm him down.

But Shaw pushed one police officer away which led to PC Richard Needham trying to restrain him.

In what prosecutor Andrew Kershaw described as a “violent incident”, Shaw bit the palm of the officer and tore the officer’s skin.

Another policeman managed to restrain and arrest Shaw but during a police interview he denied biting PC Needham. Shaw said he believed his brother was being treated harshly, not knowing he had spat at an officer.

The court heard that it wasn’t the first time Shaw had assaulted a police officer. In 2003 Shaw twice punched an officer in Huddersfield town centre.

Then in 2005 he had to be restrained by a security guard at Huddersfield bus station when he got into an argument with a woman and punched her. He was sent to prison for battery.

In August, 2007, he was sentenced for grievous bodily harm after fracturing the eyesocket and cheekbone of a town centre bouncer after being thrown out of a nightclub.

Alasdair Campbell, defending, said Shaw had a bad 2010 – his mother died after battling cancer – adding: “He didn’t see what his brother did – he saw them roughly and unjustly tackle his brother to the ground.”

At Bradford Crown Court, His Honour Les Spittle, sitting as deputy circuit judge, decided to give Shaw a chance: “You had to be dealt with and restrained by a number of officers.

“Police are doing an extremely difficult job in very difficult circumstances.

“Those who assault police should go to prison and I sentence you to six months. But you need to sort out your reactions and you need to put something back into the community. If you had any money I’d take it from you.

“If you come to these courts again I’ll know I’ve got it wrong and send you to prison.”

Shaw was given six months, suspended for two years, a two-year supervision requirement and ordered to do 100 hours’ unpaid work.