Prolific burglar threatened Pc with their own Taser to avoid arrest during rooftop chase

Matthew Timmins, aged 40, also held a lump of concrete above his head to deter the officers from arresting him before escaping across a neighbour's garden.

Residents of Osprey Drive, Dudley, watched the drama unfold on Saturday, August 20, after Pcs Emma Adolf and Emma Fisher tried to arrest Timmins at home to recall him to prison.

Timmins, who has 26 convictions for 79 offences including burglary, assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, refused to answer the door and shouted he wanted to see the relevant paperwork from the prison before clambering out a window.

Prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court Laurie Scott said: "The officers ran after him, and he ran onto the driveway of a nearby property where there was a skip with some rubble in it. Pc Fisher was the first officer to reach him, and as she did so and tried to take hold of him, he picked up a block of concrete out of the skip and held it over his head in a threatening manner.

"Both Pc Fisher, and Pc Adolf who was behind her, feared that the defendant was going to strike Pc Fisher with the concrete. She jumped back again, and Pc Adolf who had drawn her Taser asked the defendant to put the concrete block down."

However, Timmins carried the concrete block to another neighbour's driveway where he encountered a postwoman who became "concerned for her safety."

Miss Scott added: "Occupants of the street came out of their properties to see what was happening. The defendant then put the block down and climbed up onto the garage of that property, shouting to Pc Adolf that she couldn’t Taser him because he would fall off the roof.

"Pc Adolf tried to climb up onto the roof after him, but slipped and fell, dropping her Taser onto the roof in the process. This was then picked up by the defendant, who began pointing it at the police officers and telling them to get back. They did so, instructing members of the public to move far away as well.

"The defendant then dropped the Taser onto the garage roof, and jumped off the back of it, into a garden, and made off."

The two officers called for back-up. Police swamped the area and Timmins was detained shortly afterwards.

When interviewed that night Timmins blamed his erratic behaviour due to "rattling" (withdrawing from heroin) but claimed he had been merely trying to return the Taser to the hapless officer.

Miss Scott added: "He said he had been ‘rattling’ at the time which had made him act irrationally. However, he denied that he had deliberately threatened Pc Fisher with the concrete block, or that he had deliberately pointed the Taser at both officers, and said he had just picked it up to give it back to Pc Adolf."

Timmins pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. A charge of possessing an offensive weapon was dropped.

Judge Michael Chambers KC jailed Timmins for eight months for each offence to run concurrently after the completing the five-year, four-month sentence for burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, driving whilst disqualified and having no insurance, which he was recalled for after missing probation meetings.

He told Timmins: "I take into account there was no injury sustained by either officer, however, Parliament has deemed the offence of assaulting an emergency worker needs a custodial sentence."